Tales From the Grand Line
by The Red Dragons Order
Summary: Travelling to a new world in search for Sirius Black, Harry manages to get tangled in with one pirate captain named Monkey D. Luffy and his crew. Adventure awaits!
1. Chapter 1

**Tales From the Grand Line**

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing but the obvious, the rest belongs to JK Rowling and Eichiro Oda.

**Author's Note:**Yes, this is a repost of chapter 10 from _Plotting Bunnies_. I decided to make it a series of shorter and longer drabbles. Sporadic updates. Chapter 10 of _Plotting Bunnies_ will be deleted after a while.

**Warnings:** The story starts right after Roronoa Zoro joins Luffy – i.e. right after the part with Axe-Hand Morgan.

This is not beta-ed!

**Chapter One****: We Are!**

Jumping through the Veil in the Department of Mysteries in a one in a million, perhaps, maybe drink-the-Felix-potion-and-hope-for-the-best chance of ever ending up in the same reality as Sirius Black and finding the man, well, it was utterly daft, bonkers, crazy, mentally disturbing and a million other words and euphemisms that Hermione could have rattled off at the drop of a hat.

"Just because _The Quibbler_ says that the Veil is a gateway to other worlds and dimensions, it doesn't mean that it is actually true, Harry," the bushy-haired woman pointed out.

The green-eyed male smiled at her. "Does that mean that you aren't coming with me?" he asked innocently.

Hermione snorted. "Nice try, but you aren't getting rid of me that easily, Harry."

In the end not only had Ron and Hermione elected to come along, but so had Neville, Luna, Ginny, most of the rest of the D.A., and, shock of all shocks, so had one Draco Malfoy.

"Right now it is best for me to keep a low profile in the wizarding world until things calm down again," the blond Slytherin said. "Besides, you will need someone with a healthy self-preservation instinct with you to keep you alive. You Gryffindors do not know the meaning of self-preservation, so I am doing you all a big favour."

"Of course you are," Ron snorted, but otherwise held his peace. After the war the arguing between Slytherins and Gryffindors seemed just... stupid.

"I am going to be your anchor," declared Mrs Weasley when they told her of the plan to go through the Veil. "I know that I cannot stop you from going, but I can make sure that you come back. Using the same spell we use on our clock which tells us what is going on with each family member, you will bind yourselves to me and if you ever end up in a situation that would have killed you in that world, I will feel it and pull you back here where you are safe and sound."

"Mom, are you sure that is such a good idea?" Ginny asked hesitantly. The Weasley family had lost a lot of children during the war and this was probably Mrs Weasley's attempt to have some sort of control over the situation, but it could also be very tiring and nerve-wracking for the elderly matron. A situation may give the woman the feeling of utter danger and death but it could be resolved in a second, and Mrs Weasley would have exerted herself to pull the person back for no reason at all.

"Do not worry, Ginny, dear," Mrs Weasley puttered around the overly crowded kitchen. "If we set the level of the spell and give it some further specifics, it should be fine. Besides, this will also ensure that all of you end up in the same dimension or world if not the same geographical location for you will be connected to each other through me."

Ron looked as hesitant as Ginny. "Are you cert-"

"Not another word out of you, young man!" Mrs Weasley waved a wooden spoon at her youngest son. "And you cannot talk me out of this, so stop trying."

Everyone knew that when Mrs Weasley took that particular tone the case was closed, the battle lost and all one could do was simply give in and accept it.

So the spell was performed though they had to use Mrs Weasley, Mr Weasley and Xenophilius Lovegood as anchors since there were so many who were going. Other preparations were made and the large group of teens got ready, and then, finally, the day had come and they all met up in the Department of Mysteries in the room with the Veil.

"Well then, on to the next great adventure!" Harry said as he ran up the small steps and through the Veil. He was quickly followed by Hermione and then, of all people, Malfoy. And slowly, one by one, the others that had gathered passed through the Veil and it really was the start of a grand adventure.

-x-x-x-x-

Harry and Hermione woke up and found themselves on a small island. The sand was a beautiful light beige colour and surprisingly soft and comfortable, the water was azure blue and clear as crystal, small waves nipping at the shore and practically begging you to come and take a swim. The weather was nice and warm, like a perfect summer day back in England, and with just a little bit of wind coming from the sea that cooled you off and kept it from being too warm. The leaves in the trees and the bushes rustled in the gentle breeze, the cries and shapes of seagulls flew overhead and there were a few odd cries from the local birds that could be heard but not be seen.

"This is amazing." Hermione muttered as she pulled out a band and tied her hair back to keep it out of her face. "It's so nice and peaceful!"

"Beautiful." Harry agreed and pulled off his hoodie. It was far too warm to walk around with that on, and it was much more comfortable in a t-shirt. This was the first time that he was ever on a real beach and actually had the time to enjoy the experience, and he fully intended to make use of it.

They spent a couple of days simply lazing about on the beach before neither of them could take the inactivity anymore and they set off into the trees to explore the island. They soon realized two things: it wasn't big at all and they were the only people there.

"We can't stay here forever no matter how much we may want to." Hermione pointed out one evening as they sat on the beach, roasting a couple of fish on the small bonfire they had made in the sand.

Harry nodded in agreement. "We need to find the others," he said and bit into one of the wonderfully juicy fruits they had found. "And we need to search for Sirius."

"The question now is how do we get off the island? Well, obviously, we need a boat of some sort, but how to make one?" Hermione reached into the bottomless backpack she had packed and pulled out several books and started searching for spells that could help them.

Another two days later the brainy woman had found several spells to help them out and they were both busy using the spells to cut down trees, make planks out of them and then forming them together into a small boat that was comfortably big enough for the two of them and with a single mast with sail placed in the middle of the deck. There was no cabin aboard nor could they go under deck, but it didn't matter much for a witch and a wizard who could easily put up wards to keep away water and cold wind.

"There, that should do it." Harry said with a smile and gazed at their boat. It looked rather professional even though the sail – which had been made from sowing together from his and Hermione's extra clothes – looked like a bad patchwork quilt. They had even given it a name just for the fun of it, and soon the _Gryffindor_ would sail the seas towards the closest inhabited island.

"Here's the food and water." Hermione floated several small wooden barrels that they had also made, and placed some in the prow and an equal amount at the stern so that the weight was equally distributed. Two barrels were filled with fresh water while the other two were filled with food, fish and fruit respectively, and everything was preserved with charms to keep it all as fresh as possible.

"With the barrels it doesn't give us much space." Harry remarked as the two of them started pushing the ship further into the water. It was surprisingly heavy, but the water was nice and warm and they both waded out until it reached their mid thighs before they pulled themselves onto the deck.

"Well, we didn't have much to work with you know. And this boat won't hold forever, especially since we aren't experts at those particular charms and spells. I'd be glad if it lasted us to the nearest inhabited island where we can get information and perhaps buy a real ship – or travel across land. _Point me_!" Hermione said and the order sent her wand spinning in her palm until it finally pointed out a direction. Another couple of spells took care of the steering oar and made sure that it always steered them in the right direction. They had found nifty wind charms which they used to fill the sail and propel the ship in the direction they wanted, but these had to be renewed every hour or so.

"At least we don't have to worry about the wind every pushing us the wrong way, or suddenly disappearing." Harry grinned and leaned back against the bulwark. There was nothing to do now but relax and wait and enjoy the nice day.

"I worry a bit about underwater currents, but I don't think it will be too much trouble." Hermione leaned back as well and picked up a book from her backpack.

The feeling of excitement and adventure, of sailing into the unknown, disappeared surprisingly fast as they steadily moved forwards and the island got smaller and smaller while nothing else showed up on the horizon. There was nothing to see apart from blue seas and even lighter blue skies with the occasional white fluffy cloud floating by. Even the seagulls slowly dwindled in numbers, and there was only so much one could talk about with your best friend who knew everything anyway, and in the end Harry had to ask Hermione to hand him a book otherwise he was liable to die of boredom.

"If this is what it took for you to start studying I would have thrown you onto a small boat in the middle of the ocean a long time ago," Hermione smiled widely as she handed a book over to Harry.

**-x-x-x-x-**

It took a nice, long five days to get to the island. The first four days had been monotone and boring to the extreme, but the morning of the fifth day had brought along the slow unravelling of the spells and charms on the boat, and the rest of the day had been spent with both Harry and Hermione almost frantically casting spells and charms to keep their vessel afloat and on the right course and moving. They were so busy with that that they didn't notice the island they were heading for until they were close enough to swim to it. And, despite the slowly darkening twilight, they could see smoke arising from further inland and Harry spotted a large ship far away heading towards the island.

And then their little boat failed completely and fell apart.

Both of them shouted in surprise as they fell into the water, only to blink and stare in shock since the water didn't reach them any further than their hips despite the fact that they were still pretty far away from the beach. Around them pieces of wood and fruits and dead fishes floated around along with the clothes that they had used to make their patchwork sail.

"Hurry and pick up the food and the clothes before they float away!" Hermione exclaimed and made a grab for the closest items.

"Got it! _Accio_ clothes!" Harry pointed his want to Hermione's backpack and watched as all the wet clothes flew into it before repeating the spell and summoning their food and directing them into his own little backpack which wasn't bottomless like Hermione's but was still much larger than what it looked like.

Finally back on dry land Hermione simply waved her wand and dried both herself and Harry off before she conjured bluebell flames. "It's getting colder since the night's coming and I don't want to get sick. Besides, we need to eat something and I'm just too tired to walk around and search for dry sticks."

They huddled together around the fire and warmed themselves and cooked their last fish. Desert consisted of fruits but they left some of those for tomorrow's breakfast. Hermione pointed her wand into her backpack and cast a drying charm on the clothes before casting a charm that would part them into two piles of clothes, one pile of her clothes and the other pile being Harry's. A few charms ensured a comfortable warmth throughout the night and, laying down close to the blue flames and enjoying the heat, Harry and Hermione slowly fell asleep while watching the dark skies and counting the shining stars.

If they had been just a little bit more awake and aware of their surroundings then they would have known that they had been watched ever since they came in view of the island, and that someone had seen all the magic that the two of them had used in the past half hour or more. And now that someone left their observation point and ran through the woods all the way back to the town that was built on the island. The figure ran through the entire dark town and up to a large white tower. A flagpole on top proudly flew the white flag with a stylized bird holding a wrench and the words MARINE written underneath the bird in blue. There was a high stone fence around the entire compound, but the gates opened to let the marine private through, his white shirt and blue pants and cap making him easily blend it with the rest of the men in the compound.

Running to the large tower and up countless stairs and down countless corridors and past fellow marines, the private didn't stop until he had reached a pair of fancy double doors. A pair of marines stood guard outside, rifles in their hands and swords at their hips, and they watched calmly as the private took a moment to get his breath back before he managed to pant out: "I need to see the lieutenant!"

"It is rather late." One of the guards said.

"This is important!" the private insisted.

"Come back tomorrow." Said the other guard.

"But he must know!"

The two guards sighed and shook their heads. Rookies. "Alright, what must he know?"

"He said he wanted to know if ever someone with Devil Fruit powers landed on the island, right?"

"Yes, so what?"

"Well two of them just landed on the north beach! They were waving sticks around and making things fly and conjuring floating blue flames!" the private nearly waved his arms about in his excitement. A second later he found himself pushed into the office and face to face with the lieutenant and telling said lieutenant what he had seen on the north beach.

**-x-x-x-x-**

The next morning Harry and Hermione were right in the middle of their breakfast of fruits when there were shouts and running feet and before they knew it they had been surrounded by a large group of marines all of which were pointing either rifles or swords at them and shouting for them not to move a muscle.

"Make way for Marine Lieutenant Adámas Dia Mond!" a voice shouted and the marines parted and made a path for their lieutenant. Adámas Dia Mond looked rather like a spinning top, his tiny head placed upon the broadest shoulders that Harry and Hermione had ever seen, and from the shoulders his body slanted downwards to his tiny feet. He seemed ready to start spinning around at the drop of a hat, and Harry had to bite his lip to keep from snickering at the sight.

"Uhm, may we help you somehow, lieutenant?" Hermione spoke up hesitantly. Neither she nor Harry had any idea of what was going on and why they had suddenly been attacked the first thing in the morning.

"Silence!" a marine shouted out and stepped up beside the lieutentant who remained silent and simply kept staring at Harry and Hermione. The marine pulled out a piece of paper, unrolled it and started reading. "Be it known that you have sinned for your willful commission of crimes against the World Government. Said crimes are to be cited herewith: landing on the beach without papers, not registering with the marines when stepping onto the island, eating Devil Fruits and practicing evil witchcraft on the surroundings-"

Harry stared open-mouthed. "That's insane!" he protested. "How the hell could we know that we were supposed to have papers or register with the marines when coming here? And what in heaven's name are Devil Fruits?"

He notably didn't say anything about the witchcraft stuff. If people here were as suspicious and afraid of witchcraft as people had been back on Earth during the Salem Witch Trials or the Inquisition, then it would simply be best to forget all about magic for the moment.

"Silence, criminal! Get to your feet!" the marines moved in and Harry and Hermione jumped to their feet, their backpacks clutched in their hands as they moved back to back to keep from being poked by rifle barrles or sword points.

"I have decreed that Devil Fruit powers shall be illegal on this island, and my word is, indeed, law." Adámas Dia Mond spoke up finally. His voice was... squeaky to say the least, and Harry and Hermione shared a rather freaked-out look. These people were starting to seem rather weird.

"You have now two options, criminals," the lead marine spoke up again. "You can either come along calmly and serve your sentence, or you can pay us twenty million berri. You will also have to use your Devil Fruit powers in some way to help the town and prove to us that you are here peacefully."

"Twenty million berri?" Hermione repeated in shock. Berri was obviously the local currency and she had no idea how much that would be in pounds or in galleons and sickles and knuts, but the very sum was more than enough to nearly give her a heart-attack.

Green eyes narrowing, Harry frowned. The sum was ridiculous especially when neither one of them had any idea of what these marines were talking about, and the rest of it just sounded like a way of taking advantage of cheap labour. Sharing a look between each other, the two eighteen-year-olds then promptly twisted on the spot and disappeared from the ring of rifles and swords with a loud crack. The marines cried out in surprise and shock, some of them falling back on the sand, and Adámas Dia Mond frowned in anger at the escape.

And thus began Harry and Hermione's days as fugitives from the law. Luckily the island was big enough to hide and not be found at once and the marines didn't have enough men to cover it all. At first the local civilians helped Harry and Hermione with food and water, but that soon ended when the marines spread rumours that the two Gryffindors were evil witches come to cast a horrible curse on the island and its inhabitants. After that rumour was spread, people were much more likely to scream bloody murder and throw dangerous things at Harry and Hermione and report them to the marines rather than help them out with food. All of this only made it even more difficult for Harry and Hermione to get a hold of some money and buy themselves a new boat and get away from the island and the very stubborn marines who just wouldn't give up on the chase.

Things actually went rather well for the two of them and they had even found a nice merchant vessel that they could easily sneak aboard and stowaway and finally leave the island. The merchant ship was leaving in a couple of days and Harry and Hermione had parted ways briefly in order to escape a large group of pursuing marines with agreement to meet up at the ship when the time came to leave. However, the day before they were to leave Harry, who had hidden under one of the overturned rowboats at the docks, heard a great commotion around the middle of the day.

"They've caught it! They've caught the female witch-monster! Huzzah for Lieutenant Adámas Dia Mond!" people cheered.

Harry froze where he sat curled up underneath the small rowboat, green eyes wide and his heart jumping into his throat. They had caught Hermione! His first instinct was to jump out of his hiding place and run to her rescue, but the months of travelling around England in search of horcruxes and the war had taught Harry restraint and a little more patience if nothing else, so he managed to keep himself from running straight into a trap and uselessly being caught with Hermione. No, he had to think of something else. But he couldn't do it in the middle of town where it would be too much of a chance to be discovered. The best thing would be for Harry to go back to the beach where he and Hermione had first landed, and try to come up with a plan.

People were so excited about the capture of the 'monster' that they dropped their work-tools and ran off to see the creature. Harry had to bite his lip to keep himself from shouting at them all to stop calling Hermione a monster and an it. Instead he took the opportunity and slid out from his hiding place and quickly ran off down the beach to the closest cluster of trees, and continued running until he was certain that no marines were following him. Afterwards he apparated to the beach on the north side of the island, made sure that there were no marines keeping guard, and then practically collapsed into a sitting position on the sand, head in his hands, and tried to figure out how in heaven's name he could save his best friend from an entire marine base.

It was almost night when a dull thump made Harry look up, and he blinked when he saw a small boat – a bit bigger than the one he and Hermione had managed to put together – run aground in the shallow sand. Nothing and no one was moving aboard the boat as Harry waded out to it. If it didn't belong to anyone then he and Hermione could use it to get away from the island without having to trust their luck and sneak aboard a ship.

Peeking over the rim of the bulwark when he reached the boat, Harry blinked at the sight that met him. Two young men about his own age were laid out on the deck. The leaner one was dressed in a red vest and blue shorts and with sandals on his feet and a straw hat covering his black hair that could rival Harry's own in messiness. The other was much more built, three katana-swords lying near him. This one had short hair in a light green shade that Harry had never seen before – not even on Tonks when she had been showing off. Both of them were unconscious and from the way their stomachs were growling and the lack of barrels of food or water on the boat, it was obvious what was wrong with them.

Sighing and shaking his head Harry started pushing and dragging the boat towards the shore, using magic to push it the rest of the way when it became too difficult to move it manually. Two well-placed _mobilicorpus_ spells lifted the two unconscious men from the boat and onto the beach, and a few _accio_'s soon had summoned enough fruit and fish to feed the two strangers with. Harry started a normal fire and started cooking the food. He was hungry himself and perhaps doing something manual like this would help his brain to work out a way to help Hermione. He hadn't had any luck so far anyway.

The smell of roasting fish soon penetrated the air and both the green-haired swordsman and the teen with the straw hat twitched before they sat up with a shout, practically frothing at the mouth and throwing themselves at the food only to cry out "Hot!" and pull back when the flames burned them.

Harry simply blinked and felt a wee bit freaked out. "Uh, the food will be done in a minute?" he said, though it sounded more as a question than a statement.

The two turned to him and seemed a bit surprised to see him there. It was the black-haired teen with the straw hat that spoke up. "Who are you? My name's Luffy!" the last part was delivered with an impossibly wide grin. The green-haired man didn't say anything and seemed more than content in simply letting the black-haired teen, Luffy, take care of the talking.

"My name is Harry." Harry managed a small smile in return. "It's nice to meet you. Here, the food is ready." He handed the fish and fruits to the other two and had to bite his lip to keep from grinning at the way they swallowed the simple meal.

"Second helpings, please!" Luffy demanded cheerfully barely two minutes later, having already consumed three fish and five fruits.

Harry blinked again in surprise. He was still on his first fish.

"Don't be impolite, Luffy!" the green-haired male growled in a rather deep voice and stuffed fish bones in Luffy's mouth. "Chew on that!"

"Gah! Zoro! Why'd you do that?" Luffy practically stuck his entire hand into his mouth to dislodge the fish bones which had, apparently, gotten stuck.

"You were being an idiot, that's why!" Zoro replied.

"Ah, don't worry about it," Harry protested and handed Luffy his own fruits. The fish would be more than enough for Harry.

"Hahaha! Thanks, hairy man!" Luffy laughed and stuffed the fruit into his mouth, his cheeks bulging out ridiculously. And impossibly, too. It almost seemed as if the young man's skin could stretch to accommodate the food.

"I'm not hairy! I'm Harry!" the green-eyed male protested.

"That's what I said. Hairy."

"No you didn't!" both Harry and Zoro shouted, but Luffy simply laughed and didn't pay any attention.

"And you said it wrong again!" Harry added.

Luffy just laughed and eagerly drank the water that Harry offered him.

Zoro sighed and shook his head before he addressed Harry. "Where are we anyway?"

"Ah, you aren't locals? I thought you were since only locals go out to sea without any food or water. Are you survivors of a shipwreck?" Harry had been rather worried if these two were locals, and he relaxed a little bit now that he knew that they weren't. He also sidestepped the question of where they were since he actually had no idea _where_ this island was. Neither he nor Hermione had managed to get their hands on a map.

"So you aren't a local either?" Luffy's teeth crunched through the fish bones. Notably, he didn't answer the question either, sidestepping it just like Harry had done.

The green-eyed male hesitated a bit, for a moment afraid that these two had heard about him and Hermione from the locals, but then he decided to throw caution to the wind and replied. "No, I'm not local. My friend and I got stranded here when our boat sank."

"Where's your friend?" Luffy looked very excited at the thought of meeting someone new.

Harry nearly winced at the question. "She's, uhm, in the town."

"Oooohhh! There's a town on this island? Let's go, Zoro!" jumping up, Luffy would have ran off in a random direction if Zoro hadn't grabbed his wrist. Harry gaped like a fish on land as Luffy's arm stretched and stretched and stretched like rubber, and the sandal-wearing teen reached the tree-line before he realized that he wasn't being followed. "Why are you sitting there for? Let's go!"

Zoro let go of the arm he was holding and it snapped towards Luffy, smacking the teen in the face and sending him to the ground before the arm snapped into place at a normal length. Zoro, unlike Harry, didn't seem too shocked and instead leaned back against a rock, his three swords laying in the sand beside him. "Calm down, will you? It's far too late to go to town now. Let's just stay here until morning and then we will go and explore."

When Luffy still seemed hesitant and ready to run off to town no matter how late it was, Harry took out his want and conjured up silvery-blue magical butterflies and sent them flying towards Luffy. He didn't think that someone who could stretch like Luffy would scream witch and attack Harry, and the butterflies worked at once and Luffy was utterly transfixed. He chased the magical things around, shouting eagerly and laughing when they simply slipped through his fingers like small sparks before reforming into butterflies and flying off again.

"That will keep him occupied!" Zoro grinned. He didn't seem too concerned about the fact that Harry had just conjured some obviously magical and glowing butterflies. Then again, if he really did travel with a guy who could stretch his arm like Luffy had done, then he had probably seen weirder things than conjured butterflies.

"Where are you headed if you don't know where you are?" Harry asked them a little while later after Luffy had gotten tired of chasing the butterflies around.

"We're heading to the Grand Line!" Luffy was exuberant as always.

"The Grand Line?" he parroted. Harry had no idea what that was but apparently Luffy took it as disbelief rather than ignorance so no awkward questions arose.

The young man nodded so much that his straw hat fell off his head and into the sand. "Yeah! I'm going to be King of the Pirates and find the One Piece!"

Harry couldn't help but smile in the face of such enthusiasm even if he didn't know much about what Luffy was talking about. "That sounds really cool."

"Yup!" Luffy nodded again, dislodging his hat once more. "And Zoro's my first mate!"

"Good luck to the both of you, then." Harry decided that he wouldn't ask about Luffy's insanely stretching arm since neither Luffy nor Zoro had asked about the conjured butterflies. It was only polite, after all, and a pirate-king wannabe like Luffy wasn't going to the nearest marine base to rat on Harry so the green-eyed male felt rather safe in not obliviating them.

They spent some more time sitting around the fire and Harry regaled the other two with a few fun moments from his school life – like the times someone ate a Canary Cream or other Fred and George jokes – and it sent Luffy into guffaws until the young man had to take a moment to get his breath back, and Zoro laughed too though a bit more calmly than Luffy. At some point all of them slipped into sleep and the next morning Harry summoned some fruit as breakfast before he pointed Zoro and Luffy to the path that would take them straight to the town.

"Follow that and you will be in town in twenty minutes tops." He said and pointed at a very well marked, straight path.

"Hey, why don't you come with us and we can look for your friend together!" Luffy suggested with a grin.

Harry simply shook his head. He couldn't get Zoro and Luffy further in trouble with the marines than they already were, and he already had a plan on how to get to Hermione and it didn't involve either of his two new friends. "Ah, no, I'm sorry but I have something else to do first. Perhaps we will see each other in town."

He bid the two pirates goodbye, inwardly musing over just how non-pirate like they were and thinking back to all the muggle pirate movies and the way those had portrayed pirates. Luffy and Zoro resembled anything but pirates! It was rather cute actually, and it served to lift Harry's spirits a little bit before he set out to carry out his plan. It was obvious that Harry couldn't take on a marine base all by himself, magic or not. Nor could he hope to sneak in and sneak out again with Hermione at his side. So that left only one thing: going through the main gate and without trying to hide.

It took Harry an hour to find a marine patrol and another fifteen minutes of pretending to battle with them before he let them overpower and capture him. They took his holly wand at once and snapped it before someone placed it in a small chest to be carried back to the base. The other marines proceeded to give Harry a good beating and kicking before they tied his arms to his torso, practically covering him in ropes from shoulders and to his waist. Six long ropes connected him to the marines, two marines holding on to each rope where four marines walked ahead and four walked behind the procession. And this was how they made their way back to town and through the streets.

"The final monster has been caught!" the marines shouted.

"The second witch is caught! Our town is safe once more!" the civilians cheered. They came out of their houses and shops and stores and stared like gaping fishes at Harry. It couldn't have been worse if Harry had had tentacles or had green skin and two heads, or something.

Then the accusations started to come.

"You made my child sick, you monster!" a harried mother shouted angrily.

"I didn't catch any fish because of your evil spell!" a fisherman accused.

"My puppy died!" a child shouted before picking up a pebble and throwing it at Harry who ducked as much as he could.

It went on and on like that, with the most ridiculous of accusations being placed at Harry's feet as the crowd got more and more agitated. At one point Harry spotted the utterly shocked and surprised faces of Zoro and Luffy staring out of the window of a restaurant, forks with food halfway to their mouths, but Harry pretended not to know them at all and simply moved on when the marines pulled on the ropes. The marine base with its large, pale towed loomed ahead of them and the gates opened up to let them through before closing after them with a deafening finality.

There was no way going back now.

**-x-x-x-x-**

They placed him in a small cell where the bars were apparently made out of something called seastone and were perfect for hindering the usage of Devil Fruit powers. And though Harry felt a slight tingling in his magic whenever he touched the bars and it was a little bit harder to access his magic and bend it to his will, he still didn't have too much trouble making his magic do whatever he wished.

Hermione was brought in about an hour later and was thrown into the small seastone-cell right beside Harry's. She looked the worse for wear like Harry did, but there was little that could break a strong woman like her, especially after what they had gone through in the war against Voldemort. Bruises and cuts were nothing compared to that.

"I wondered how long it would take you to show up," she said quietly. They were sitting on the floor by the bars that parted their two cells, leaning in as close as possible to make sure that no one heard what they were saying. Hermione was definitely bruised and had a few cuts, but otherwise she was fine.

"I figured this was the only way to get to you." Harry replied. "Are you alright? What have they done to you?" he asked. He could see that she was fine, but seeing and getting it confirmed were two very different things.

The bushy-haired woman nodded and absentmindedly pushed some hair behind her ear. The tie she had used to keep the brown strands back was long gone. "A bit sore but nothing like what the Death Eaters would have done." She smiled a bit. "Don't worry about it. Worry more about the fact that we don't have any wands anymore – I assume they broke your wand when they caught you? They broke mine."

The green-eyed male nodded. "They broke my holly wand, yes."

"Your holly wand?" Hermione parroted, then her eyes grew wide. "You don't mean to tell me that you brought the Elder Wand here?" she hissed in shock.

Harry nodded again. "I figured it was best. Besides, what better way to make sure that the Elder Wand doesn't have another master than leaving it in a totally different world? Anyone could have gotten it from Dumbledore's tomb as was proven by Voldemort."

"But what if someone here finds it or takes it from you?"

"That was always the worry in the Wizarding World too, so I don't see any difference." He smiled. "Besides, it's too late to do anything about it now. Now, tell me what these guys have done to you and what they want. If you had been just a normal criminal I doubt they would have bothered to beat you up like that or remove you from this cell at all."

Hermione snorted but let the topic of the Elder Wand go. She sighed. "It's that marine lieutenant who looks like a spinning top – Adámas Dia Mond. He's crazy for jewels and precious stones and metals of any kind – he has an entire swimming pool filled with precious stones and metal like Scrooge McDuck for heaven's sake! – and this island apparently has very rich deposits of gold and silver and precious stones of all kinds and he is doing everything to get them out and add it to his collection. He uses criminals as labour since the local people would have rebelled against him if he had used and abused them."

"I can see where we as 'criminals' would enter the picture." Harry said dryly. This was like a bad movie back home or something.

"Indeed," Hermione was obviously of the same opinion as he was. "The problem is that Adámas Dia Mond is terrified of people coming and stealing his wealth and therefore everyone who is strong enough to present any sort of threat – especially these people with Devil Fruit powers though I still haven't figured out exactly what that entails – he arrests on the most ridiculous of charges, names a ridiculous sum of money they have to pay in order to go free and then uses them and their special skills in working in the mines until they have worked off the sum. Of course, he adds on extra cost for any food and clothes and sleeping arrangements during the stay so the entire sum is constantly getting bigger and bigger."

The green-eyed male shook his head with a sigh. "Can't say I'm surprised, really. If I had that much money I would be worried about people stealing it, too."

"Oh, but that's not all of it. No, since we two have 'eaten' a previously unknown Devil Fruit that gave us these weird powers of ours we are far too dangerous to let live. So they are going to do what people did during the witch hunts and throw us on a bonfire."

"What?" Harry blinked. "You can't be serious. This place doesn't seem like it's stuck in the Dark Ages."

"People fear what they can't understand and they don't understand us." Hermione shook her head. She leaned against the seastone-bars and ignored their tiny effects. "So, what happens now? Do we send an emergency signal to Mrs Weasley and have her pull us back into the Wizarding World, or do we try to get out of this mess and continue our search for Sirius and the rest of the D.A. that came with us?"

Harry had to think about that a little bit. He really didn't want to stop searching for Sirius and the others now before they had even really started, but he didn't want to burn to death either. He wasn't like Wendelin the Weird who had enjoyed pretending to be burnt at the stake and allowed muggles to catch her 47 times in various disguises.

In the end Harry sighed. "We can send Mrs Weasley a message to stand ready and then see what happens when they decide to burn us. I know it's dangerous, but I don't want to give up before we have even started to search."

Hermione sighed too but nodded. "Alright. I don't mind. I don't want to stop now either. I want to see this entire world and write it down in a journal and tell everyone about it when we get home."

Smiling Harry watched as Hermione sunk into a deep sleep-like state that would let her talk to Mrs Weasley and let the woman know to stand ready to pull them back if she ever got the signal. Then Harry told her of the odd couple of Zoro and Luffy that he had met and rescued from a hungry death last night, and Hermione's eyes grew wide when he described the way that Luffy's arm stretched.

"That can't be normal, even here in this world." She said. "Perhaps that is one of those Devil Fruit powers?"

"Very likely."

"Simply amazing! A simple fruit that can change the human body like that...!" she trailed off and was off in her own world.

Harry simply chuckled and let her be. They had all the time in the world now – at least until the marines decided that it was time to execute them. He relaxed against the seastone-bars and closed his eyes. The Elder Wand was hidden up his sleeve and within easy reach, and his Invisibility Cloak was hidden up his other sleeve. So they were as ready as possible to get away, all they needed to do now was wait for the opportune moment.

**-x-x-x-x-**

They were taken out to the grounds in the marine compound where two large wooden platforms had been put up. A sturdy pole was sticking out at the middle of the platform and countless bundles of kindling placed all around each pole. Civilians and marines were gathered and waited eagerly for the spectacle, and they jeered as Harry and Hermione were led out and each to a platform before being tied to the poles. Harry was still tied up with ropes from his shoulders and to his waist, so he couldn't reach the Elder Wand. However, the wand was tied to his forearm and touched his skin and his hand was free from the wrist down so he could still move it around and in the correct wand-movements. He would just have to trust that his magic would work like that.

Adámas Dia Mond and a marine stepped up on the platform where Hermione was tied while his second in command stepped up on Harry's platform. The marine and the second in command were both carrying lit torches, the fire crackling and flickering as if hungry and eager to start eating both wood and human flesh.

"We are gathered here today to witness the execution of two irreparable criminals." Adámas Dia Mond started speaking in his squeaky voice, a small snail with a colourful shell held in front of him which repeated what he said and amplified it like a megaphone so that everyone heard it. "They were offered the chance to pay for their crimes by working it off, but replied with threatening to cast an evil spell over this island and its people!"

Harry snorted at that. Evil spell my foot! They hadn't done anything to warrant being criminals in the first place! He wanted to shout it out for them all to hear, but it was best to simply let the marine lieutenant keep on talking. It was enough of a distraction for people that no one would notice it when Harry's hand started motioning in seemingly random patterns as the green-eyed male tried to make his magic work for him. Hermione kept a sharp eye on what he was doing, ready to start making a fuss to give Harry more time.

"Will you repent, you criminals?" Adámas Dia Mond demanded, pointing at Hermione. "Or shall the fires of hell swallow your sinning soul?"

"Never!" Hermione shouted. "We haven't done anything wrong! We haven't thrown any sort of curse or evil spell on this island or its people, nor have we threatened to do so! Just because we don't want to work like slaves in your mines to give you even more gold and jewels we are being burned at the stake!"

"So you do not repent?" said the marine lieutenant in his squeaky tiny voice.

"Didn't I just say so?" Hermione's bushy hair seemed to poof out in her anger, making her look like an angry cat. "And what's with those stupid rules that people with Devil Fruit powers are prohibited from stepping onto the island? How in heaven's name can any stranger know those stupid rules if they haven't grown up on this stupid island?"

'_Just a little bit more, Hermione! Keep them occupied just a little bit more!'_ Harry thought to himself. He could feel the flow of his magic and was learning how to make it do what he wanted despite not using his wand in the usual way.

"Then repent in hell, you sinners!" Adámas Dia Mond shouted and the two marines with the torches threw them onto the bundles of kindling.

The crowds shouted and got more and more excited, waving their arms around like crazy. Hermione couldn't stop a scream of horror from escaping her and she tugged on her ropes as hard as she could. Harry cursed as the flames leaped around him. He barely had a few seconds to get free and get to Hermione before it was too late.

"Come on, damn it! _Relashio_!" the green-eyed male shouted and forced his magic. The flames were leaping up higher and higher and it was getting unbearably hot and he could hear Hermione shout again, and suddenly the magic snapped into place and the ropes around him fell away into the flames. "_Repello_!" he roared and the flames were forced away from him, flowing out over the screaming public like orange waves, but Harry paid it no mind. He was already running across his charred platform and jumping over the short gap before landing on Hermione's.

With another wave of his hand Harry roared out the extinguishing spell and the flames slowly got smaller and smaller and finally disappeared. Hermione seemed unconscious and hung in her bonds, her clothes, skin and hair singed and smoking, but as far as Harry could see there was no real damage to her. He ignored the warmth as he grabbed the bundles of charred kindling and threw it away, aiming to hit the marines that were trying to get onto the platform and knocking them back. His own clothes and skin was even more singed than Hermione's by the time he reached her and grabbed at the smoking ropes in an attempt to pull them off.

"Hang on! We'll get-!" a stone-hard hit to the back of the head sent Harry rolling along the floor and to the edge of the platform. He groaned and shook his fuzzed head to clear it, and looked up wide-eyed when a large shadow fell over him. Adámas Dia Mond stood over him, one of the enormous arms raised, ready to bring down a head-crushing fist on the green-eyed wizard. Behind the marine lieutenant Harry could see several marines with drawn swords approaching them and several were already raising their swords only to bring them down on Hermione's unprotected form.

At that point things seemed to go into slow motion.

"NO!" Harry roared as he scrambled to his feet. Adámas Dia Mond's arm came down towards Harry's back as the teen tried to run past, and the marines' swords were heading towards Hermione's unconscious head, ready to chop it off.

"Get out of our way!" two familiar voices shouted. An arm suddenly stretched and stretched and stretched before the fist connected harshly with Adámas Dia Mond's face sending the man flying backwards off the wooden stage. A second later the sound of metal meeting metal violently sounded through the shocked silence and the marines with the swords were stopped a hair's breadth from Hermione's hanging head.

"Luffy! Zoro!" green eyes blinked in surprise as Harry realized who had unexpectedly come to his aid.

Luffy's arm snapped back to its normal length as the young man stepped onto the charred platform, and Zoro threw the marines off the platform with a swipe of his three swords – and Harry had to stop up a moment when he realized that the third sword was clamped between the green-haired male's teeth. It was a wonder that Zoro's neck-muscles and teeth could handle the strain of swinging a heavy sword around let alone using it like a normal weapon in a fight.

"Sorry we're a little bit late, Harry," Zoro said around the sword in his mouth, his speech not at all impaired by the weapon. "We couldn't get past the stupid crowds."

Harry didn't know quite what to say to that.

"So you have backup! You are all here just to steal my precious diamonds!" Adámas Dia Mond clambered back onto the platform and was followed by several marines.

"I don't care about your diamonds, you old bastard!" Luffy shouted at the marine, glaring at him. "But I won't let you hurt my friends!"

"Who the hell do you think you are, you little brat? You have Devil Fruit powers too, don't you? Well, then you can join those two monsters and burn in he-!" the man's speech was broken off as another of Luffy's punches sent him flying into the group of marines behind him – though they didn't fall off the platform this time around.

"I am Monkey D. Luffy and I'm going to be the Pirate King!"

The marines gaped. "Don't announce it so casually!"

Harry, trusting that Luffy and Zoro could handle things for the moment, turned to Hermione's unconscious body and untied her, gently lowering her on the wooden floor and checking her vitals and any burns she may have gotten.

"I have had enough of this nonsense! I won't let you escape and take my jewels! _Diamond Spin_!" Adámas Dia Mond started spinning like a spinning top, his arms held out from his body and holding onto swords so that he became a deadly whirlwind. "Die! All of you! Die!"

The marines wisely jumped off the platform and Luffy yelped as he jumped away from the deadly spinning blur. Zolo met the threat head on, catching the two swords with his own but was nearly pushed over the edge of the platform by the force and momentum of the spinning Dia Mond.

"_Gum-Gum Pistol_!" Luffy's voice shouted over the din of the shouting civilians and marines and his arm stretched out over the panicking crowd before it shot towards Dia Mond who was still in a sword-lock with Zoro.

"_Diamond Shield_!" Adámas Dia Mond shouted when he spotted the fist heading towards his face again, and his skin turned pale and smooth and sparkly like a real diamond. Apparently the man also had some Devil Fruit powers and they could make him hard as diamond for Luffy's punch didn't even push a strand of hair on the marine's head. "That won't work on me again, you little abomination!"

"How can you call other people abomination when you have the same powers?" Zoro demanded and used his inhuman strength to push the diamond-marine away from himself.

"I am nothing like you! I am a marine!" Dia Mond declared as if that was the only thing that counted. The marines finally decided to use their rifles and pistols and pointed them at the four 'criminals' on the platform and fired.

Luffy jumped in front of the speeding bullets without a second thought and his skin stretched backwards wherever the bullets hit him, stretching and stretching until they stopped and then Luffy straightened back up with a shout, shooting the bullets back at the marines like a human slingshot.

"_Diamond Spin_!" he shouted and started spinning again, aiming for Luffy.

"_Impedimenta_!" Harry shouted and Dia Mond's spinning slowed down considerably almost as if he was moving in slow motion. "_Everte Statum_!" the spell sent the slowed down marine lieutenant flying off the platform again and into the panicking crowds – that strangely still hadn't left the army compound no matter how panicky they were.

"Waah! So cool!" Luffy shouted eagerly, nearly jumping up and down as he watched Harry's magic work.

"Pay attention to your surroundings, idiot!" Zoro growled and deflected a sword from hitting Luffy in the back, sending the poor unfortunate marine flying.

Harry stepped back from the edge of the platform and instead walked over to Hermione and picked her up. "Let's just get out of here before the marines manage to surround us." He said to the other two, his voice a bit tight, and jumped off the platform. Zoro and Luffy seemed a bit confused at the sudden retreat but they followed him, the marines scattering from their path in fear – Luffy's _Gum-Gum Pistol_ easily removing those that hesitated.

They ran out of the gate to the compound without any trouble. The civilians certainly weren't going to try to stop them and the marines were still gathering around Adádamas Dia Mond to follow them quite yet. Harry led the way, easily running just as fast as Zoro and Luffy despite carrying Hermione's weight, and he directed them towards the path that would take them back to the north beach where Luffy's and Zoro's boat was still moored. Harry collapsed on the soft sand and gently placed Hermione's body down. He couldn't keep back a few tears that now ran down his face and it soon became obvious why even to Luffy and Zoro.

Hermione wasn't breathing anymore.

She was dead.

Well, not dead exactly. Mrs Weasley had pulled her back to the Wizarding World the second that the bushy-haired young woman had screamed in horror, but Harry still felt as if he had failed to protect her even though they had only been following their plan. Heck, Hermione was going to be totally fine! Harry could feel that she was fine through the bond he had with her through the Weasley matriarch. Hermione was pulled from the flames long before they had done any damage to her, and now she could spend her time reading books and relaxing without having to look after Harry and Ron.

Hermione's body was empty, like the discarded skin of a snake, and the magic that had created it couldn't hold on long without being sustained by Hermione herself. So it exploded into a shower or blue and silver and gold sparks that bounced here and there and everywhere before they disappeared too.

Harry took a deep breath and brushed the tears from his cheeks. Safe or not, it was still freaky to watch your best friend 'die' and he needed a couple of minutes to pull himself together before he got to his feet and met Luffy's and Zoro's eyes. He smiled a bit at the utterly devastated looks that the other two were sporting on their faces.

"Don't worry about Hermione, she went home before anything could happen to her." Harry started brushing the sand off his clothes. "She'll be fine, she isn't dead. She has just gone home." He repeated when Luffy looked ready to cry.

"Home?" Zoro repeated, his voice still a bit chocked up though both he and Luffy seemed to be recovering from the entire ordeal at an almost alarming speed.

"Yup, home. If she can come back then we will see her again soon enough, I am certain of it." Harry smiled. "She and I and several others came here by magical means to search for another friend of ours, but we got separated. So we are now all searching for each other, and our magic makes sure that we go home whenever we wish to. At home we have a lot of magic that can help us out if we get too wounded, Hermione has just activated the magic and gone home."

"Well, if you're certain..." Zoro accepted the explanation easily enough.

"So it's a mystery home like you and she are mystery people?" Luffy summarised with a sagely nod.

"You can put it like that, I suppose." Green eyes twinkled merrily at the thought of being a part of a 'mystery people'. He sighed again and stretched a bit before focusing on his two companions again. "Thanks for coming to our aid; you didn't have to do that."

Luffy laughed, back to his usual self. "Hahaha! Don't worry about it! That's what friends do, right?"

"Either way, thank you." He couldn't help but like these two crazy wannabe pirates. They were hard to dislike and they were the first friends that Harry had made in this weird world.

Zoro spoke up next. "So what will you do next? Where will you go?"

"Well..." Harry trailed off in thought before he shrugged. "I'm going to continue searching for my friends, of course, but I have no idea where or how to begin." He could always use the _Point Me_-spell but that would only give him a general direction to travel in. He needed a boat to travel in and he needed knowledge of the seas in order to survive, and Harry didn't have either one.

Luffy was suddenly looking very eager. "Why don't you join my crew and come with us to the Grand Line?" he demanded more than suggested.

"Join you?" Harry blinked in surprise. Become a pirate and travel around with Zoro and Luffy and whomever else they picked up, going wherever they wanted? It sounded very good. It would be safer and he would certainly cover more ground like that too than if he was on his own. Besides, Harry was more than certain that Sirius Black wouldn't stay as a civilian or join the straight-laced marines. No, Harry's godfather would definitely fit the life of a pirate, and the rest of the D.A. that had come along into this odd world probably weren't going to simply stay in one place either. If the Grand Line was where everything happened, then everyone Harry knew was probably going to head there.

Luffy nodded so much that his hat nearly fell off. "Yeah! Yeah! I want a mystery man in my crew!"

"Mystery man?" he wasn't certain if he should burst out laughing or take offence. He sounded like some stereotypical character from one of those cheap , tacky soft-cover romance novels that Petunia Dursley had been reading in secret.

"Yeah! So come with us!" this time the straw hat did fall off during Luffy's nodding.

Zoro smirked. "You might as well just come with us for he won't give up once he puts his mind to something." He told Harry.

Harry had to smile. Luffy looked almost like a puppy dog as he kept on moving around Harry and tried to make him agree, and Zoro was far too amused at someone else's misfortune of being annoyed by Luffy. They really were a pair of interesting fellows, and Harry had a feeling that life would be very exciting should he choose to turn into a pirate and go with them to the Grand Line.

"Alright, why not? I will join your crew and go with you to the Grand Line and search for my friends along the way." The Boy-Who-Lived smiled and laughed with Zoro when Luffy jumped up and down cheering.

Their moment of levity was broken by a shouted: "_Diamond Barrage_!" and hard, sharp rocks of purest diamond rained down upon them.

"_Protego_!" the shield Harry cast covered all three of them, and the sharp diamond rocks bounced off with _pings_ and blue flashes of light.

"Ah, the spinning-top guy is back!" Luffy exclaimed in shock.

"We didn't exactly take care to hide our trail." Harry said.

"He's worried about us stealing his jewels and yet he's throwing precious diamonds at us." Zoro muttered and shook his head as he drew his three swords, placing the hilt of the white sword between his teeth.

"Die! _Diamond Spin_!" Adámas Dia Mond and the marines were bearing down on them from the forest, their swords were drawn and ready for use. Luffy and Zoro ran to meet them with wide grins on their faces while Harry stayed back and sent spell after spell into the ranks of the marines. He noticed that neither Zoro nor Luffy were aiming to kill their opponents so Harry did the same, using tickling charms, bat-bogey hexes, leck-locker curses and so on to make sure that his victims stayed down. The more Harry used magic while his wand was still fastened to his wrist, the easier it became to use and it also left Harry's hands free to punch any marine that came close enough.

Luffy was the first one who reached the rampaging Adámas Dia Mond and he managed to stop the man's insane spinning by ducking underneath the two blades and punching the man in the stomach. And though the hit was strong enough to send marine lieutenant flying to the ground it obviously hadn't done much real damage. Actually, Luffy seemed more hurt than Dia Mond did.

"Ahh! You're as hard as rock!" the young pirate captain shouted.

"I am harder! I am diamond! I am the hardest type of material in the world! I can get through anything!" Dia Mond shouted back as he attacked again.

"_Stupefy_!" Harry's red stunner hit Dia Mond in the torso, but it didn't do anything and Luffy had to jump out of the way of another slice-attack. _'Damn it, he has got to have a weak spot!'_ the green-eyed male thought to himself as he defended himself by forcefully blowing away several marines that had tried to sneak up on him.

Kicking out while in midair, Luffy aimed for Dia Mond's head. Dia Mond grabbed the young captain's feet, but it was too late and the soles of Luffy's sandals connected with Dia Mond's face. Harry and Zoro both easily heard the crack of breaking bones as Dia Mond fell backwards. His nose was bent and broken and it was bleeding, and Harry and Zoro shared a look.

"Aaah! He found the lieutenant's weak spot!" the marines cried out.

"The strongest natural material in the world and the idiot didn't protect his face?" Harry wasn't certain if he was asking or stating it.

"And they confirmed it?" Zoro sounded equally as uncertain as Harry as he nodded towards the panicking marines.

Shaking his head, Harry threw a quick stunner right into Adámas Dia Mond's face. It would ensure that the guy was out for another day or so and it would give him, Luffy and Zoro time to get away from this stupid island and its stupid inhabitants. "Let's just get going. I don't think that the marines will follow us now that their leader is fully down for the count."

Indeed, the marines looked ready to simply run far away and forget that they had ever met up with the trio. They grabbed the body of their fallen lieutenant – he had turned back into a human when he had been knocked unconscious – and dragged him off into the woods and back towards the town, shouting threats and curses behind them.

Luffy laughed. "That was fun!" he grinned.

Zoro sheathed his three swords and smirked. "Hardly worth the effort. They are so weak." He muttered as he headed towards the small boat that he and Luffy had arrived in. "Hey, Luffy, get on board. We're casting off."

The young captain with the straw hat grinned and was on board within a second. "Come on, Harry! It's time to go!" he seemed as excited as ever.

Harry cast one last look in the direction of the town, felt the love and feelings of safety that Mrs Weasley sent through the soul-rope, and smiled as he ran over to help Zoro push the boat through the shallows. As soon as the bottom of the boat didn't drag along the sandy bottom, both Harry and Zoro clambered aboard.

"_Viento_!" Harry waved his hand towards the sail and it filled out with a strong breeze at once, making the small boat shoot forwards over the waves.

"Yahooo!" Luffy waved his arms in excitement and Harry and Zoro laughed. "Grand Line! Here we come!"

**-x-x-x-x-**

There, it's done. Please tell me what you think.

**Yes, this is a repost of chapter 10 from _Plotting Bunnies_. I decided to make it a series of shorter and longer drabbles. Sporadic updates.**

At first I fully intended for Hermione to really die, but then I couldn't make myself go through with it. I also intended to make Adámas Dia Mond want to marry either Harry or Hermione and crave their power, but that didn't happen either. So this is what I ended up with. I hope it isn't too terrible. '_Adámas'_, '_dia'_ and '_mond'_ are, of course, all a play on the word **diamond** – adámas being the Greek root of the word.

I chose to put all the special attacks and spells in italics just to be consistent. And I hope that the fight with Adámas Dia Mond wasn't too terrible either, but I just couldn't make myself drag it out like in the anime and manga.

And please don't complain about the way that Harry travels to other worlds. I know that it's almost the same way as in several other one-shots here, not to mention countless other stories. However, there are only so many times that one can find a new way to send Harry to another world, so recycling is a must. Just ignore it if it bothers you.

Next chapter will be up very soon.


	2. Chapter 2

**Tales From the Grand Line**

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing but the obvious, the rest belongs to JK Rowling and Eichiro Oda.

**Author's Note:** I've tried to stick to the customary _One Piece_madness. I hope I managed to do it.

**Rating:** T

**Chapter Two****: Travelling Circus**

Harry quickly discovered a few things about his two new friends and shipmates. Apart from being the type of people who were hardly bothered by anything, Luffy and Zoro were also lacking in navigational and organising skills of any kind, shape or form. Really, the two had absolutely no idea where they were going (apart from knowing they wanted to go to the Grand Line), how long it would take them to get there (or to the closest island where they could get something to eat and drink), and they didn't seem at all worried about it. It made Harry start to doubt his agreement to join this particular pirate crew.

"You honestly have no idea?" the green-eyed teen blinked at them once he found out exactly how badly prepared they were.

"Nope. Floating around has worked for me so far." Luffy replied without a care in the world.

"You can't just hope to float into the Grand Line." Zoro commented. "You need to recruit a navigator as soon as possible."

'_Says the man who got lost and couldn't find his way back to his own village.'_ Harry thought sarcastically. Yes, he was really starting to doubt his decision to join these guys.

"And we need a cook! And a musician, too! Pirates need to sing and dance!" Luffy proclaimed. His priorities were very obviously leaning towards the musician.

"What the hell are you on about?" Zoro shouted.

Harry sighed and pulled out his wand and performed the _Point Me_ spell towards the closest inhabited island where the three of them could get supplies and perhaps even a navigator too if they were lucky. He replaced his wand in the wrist holster before he performed the spell to create a wind in their single sail. In the three days since they had left the island with Adámas Dia Mond, Harry had been training to do spells without the wand in his hand. It was safer strapped to his wrist where it couldn't be knocked out of his grasp, and Harry already knew it was possible to perform magic without it in his hand. It seemed like the perfect advantage to have in the upcoming battles. After all, travelling with someone who was intent on becoming the Pirate King was a guaranteed way of getting into fights.

'_Me and my rash decisions.'_ Harry sighed but smiled as he watched Luffy laugh as their little boat shot ahead with the wind pulling the sail taught. The young captain never seemed to lose his fascination for the magic Harry did no matter how many times Harry performed the same spells.

"I'm hungry."

Zoro snorted at Luffy's sudden statement. "You're always hungry."

"Harry! Get us some fish!" Luffy ordered.

That was another thing Harry had discovered. Luffy could eat so much in one sitting that Harry suspected that even the Hogwarts House Elves would be hard pressed to keep up with him. The young captain was always hungry and was always demanding Harry summon some fish to roast over a _Bluebell Flame_.

"The way you are going the ocean will be devoid of fish before we reach the Grand Line." Harry said and didn't make a move to get the requested food. "And you can't eat only fish all the time. You need other nutrients as well, and for that you need a cook." He, Hermione and Ron had gotten quite conscious about what they ate after that year of travelling during the war with Voldemort.

"Besides, we just ate breakfast barely a few hours ago." Zoro added for good measure.

Luffy sighed and groaned, falling back to lie on the deck. "Sooo hungryyy..."

The next hour or so they spent more or less in silence. Zoro had fallen asleep – Harry was starting to suspect that the guy could sleep through anything and everything – while Luffy was gazing up at the skies and Harry was doing his best to maintain their course and renewing the wind-spell every so often. All three of them were enjoying the great weather. It was warm and yet comfortable with the breeze, and Harry wondered if he had landed into some sort of Caribbean or Mediterranean belt in this world, or if the entire world was like this. He didn't mind either way since it was comfortable.

"It's a bird." Luffy said suddenly and Harry looked up at the skies. There was, indeed, a bird. Its form was shadowed against the sun, and it seemed quite big. But that might have been because it was close.

"Probably a seagull," the green-eyed teen said. "It should mean that we aren't too far from an island. I'm not sure exactly how far out from land seagulls fly, but I think it's a good sign."

"Let's eat that bird!"

Zoro woke up at Luffy's shout and Harry stared. "Luffy! Didn't you hear a word I just said?" the Boy-Who-Lived demanded. "There is land nearby! You don't have to eat the bird! You can wait for a while longer!"

"Besides, how are you going to get it?" Zoro added his two cents.

Luffy just grinned as always. "Leave it to me! _Gum-Gum_-" his arms stretched up to grab at the beam that the sail was fastened to "-_Rocket_!"

And thus the captain of a three-man crew flung himself into the air and straight towards the bird. To Harry it seemed as if Luffy had just been catapulted out of a big slingshot or something similar.

"I can't believe he thought of that..." Zoro muttered as he watched Luffy fly.

"I don't like this." Harry said, using both his hands to shade for his eyes. "Luffy is starting to seem smaller than the bird."

"Eh?" Zoro shot him a look then looked back up. "Ah, he got to the bird."

A few heartbeats in silence later the green-eyed male decided to calmly point out something obvious. "He is not coming back down."

"No, he's not." The green-haired swordsman confirmed equally as calmly.

"WAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Luffy screamed as the bird carried him away. "HELP MEEEE!"

"You idiot! What the hell are you doing?" Zoro roared as he threw himself over the oars and started rowing.

Harry wasn't certain what he should be more shocked over. The fact that a bird had just flown away with their captain or the fact that Zoro was rowing faster than the small ship had been going even with the magical wind in its sail. The swordsman certain had some strength in him.

With a sigh Harry got to his feet and started to pull on the ropes to gather up the sail. It certainly wasn't needed the way Zoro was rowing and it was only getting in the way at the moment. As he secured the rope the Gryffindor was once again wondering why the hell he had agreed to join these two.

"Hey!" someone shouted. "Please stop! You on the boat, stop!"

"What now?" the swordsman growled angrily.

Harry stared out over the water. "There are three people in the water. They are straight in our path." He said to his companion.

"Castaways! At a time like this!" Zoro didn't stop rowing even as the boat neared the three swimmers. "I'm not stopping the boat!" the green-haired male shouted to the castaways. "You guys get on yourselves! Just jump on!"

"Eh?" Harry blinked in surprise at the answer. Sure, they needed to find Luffy, but they could easily do that with the Point Me spell and didn't have to stress about it. They could afford to stop for the three unfortunate men.

"What? What did you say?" the three castaways roared in shock and desperately grabbed for the edge of the boat as Zoro rowed right through their midst.

Somehow all three of them managed to get aboard without any help as Zoro was still rowing and Harry was still trying to figure out what the hell had just happened.

"You guys actually got on board." Zoro smirked at them.

"Are you trying to kill us?" the three castaways demanded angrily.

Harry had to bite back a snicker. The Gryffindor was still a bit confused on why people acted so weirdly in this world, but after joining with Luffy and Zoro he was starting to get annoyingly used to the insanity – and that was only after a few days. He sighed and shook his head minutely, and looked up trying to spot Luffy. "A little more to the left," he said and motioned with his hand.

Zoro adjusted the course until Harry nodded.

"Why is this guy so reckless?" one of the castaways grumbled as the three took a moment to calm their hearts from what they had just gone through.

Harry stared at their unexpected guests. With them aboard the small boat was completely cramped, but the three certainly were odd to look at. All three bore sashes around their waist and long daggers stuck in those sashes. One had a buzz-cut, another had an orange afro of sorts while the third wore what Harry privately thought of as a beanie with a pale green pompom. On the front of the black beanie was a skull-and-crossbones symbol that, for some strange reason, seemed to have a large, red nose. It was the weirdest thing Harry had ever seen.

'_Then again why a grown man would freely walk around with a beanie on his head – and in this warm weather too – is probably best left as a mystery.'_ The Boy-Who-Lived thought to himself. People around here were so very odd.

"Hey. Stop the boat." Beanie said with a grin as he drew his dagger with a clink of metal. "We're crew of Buggy the Clown, and we're taking over this ship." His two companions smirked evilly in the background.

"Leave them to me, Zoro. I need the practice. You just keep on rowing." Harry said and turned to face the three castaways-turned-attackers. First he needed to get rid of the most dangerous things – i.e. the daggers. Harry stretched his hand out before pulling it back in towards his body as if he was dragging something, and pushed his magic to do what he wanted. "_Expelliarmus_!"

It worked. A bit too well at that. Harry had put too much magic in the spell and the three daggers flew at him so fast that he barely had the time to duck. One of them embedded itself in the thin pole that served as the boat's mast, while the other two flew on and barely missed a shocked Zoro.

"Watch where you're throwing those things!" the swordsman shouted.

"Sorry." Harry said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"What just happened?" Beanie wondered.

"These two are insane." Orange-Afro said.

Buzz-Cut simply nodded dumbly in a way that reminded Harry of Crabbe and Goyle.

Beanie wasn't about to go down that easily though. He shook himself out of his surprise and brought up his fists. "Never mind. We're strong enough to take them on with our fists. Attack!"

"Ack!" the Gryffindor yelped as he ducked a punch. There was no time to really think, he simply reacted. Reaching out he put his hand on Beanie's arm. "_Impedimenta_!" Harry pushed magic into the arm and Beanie was stopped dead in his tracks. Harry pushed the guy sideways so that he fell right into Orange-Afro, and turned to face Buzz-Cut who was nearly upon him. But Harry was a bit faster. "_Locomotor Mortis_!" he said as he tapped the man's large stomach, and Buzz-Cut yelped as his legs suddenly locked together and he lost his balance and fell backwards.

That left only Orange-Afro. The man had managed to grab the dagger that had embedded itself in the mast and had gotten in close while Harry was focused on Buzz-Cut. Harry saw a flash of light from the corner of his eye and automatically moved away from it, but it wasn't enough. A sudden pain bloomed on his shoulder as the dagger made a long cut there, and Harry hissed in pain. Zoro had stopped his rowing and was tense and ready to jump in if Harry needed help, but Harry motioned for the swordsman to stay away for now. The Gryffindor wanted to do this himself. If he couldn't handle a little bit of pain then he wouldn't be able to help Luffy reach his dream of being Pirate King, nor would Harry come far in his quest to find his friends and Sirius.

"That will teach you to mess with the crew of Buggy the Clown!" Orange-Afro smirked evilly. "Now, undo whatever you did to my friends and then we'll be taking over this ship. Savvy?"

"_Petrificus totalus_!" Harry hadn't raised a hand this time, instead he had simply pointed a finger at Orange-Afro and hoped that it worked. And luck was with him once more as Orange-Afro fell over backwards on the deck. Harry sank down to the deck as well. "I feel exhausted. It would have been nothing to do this with my wand, but I don't want to risk accidentally losing it in the ocean."

"It's good training." Zoro said, relaxing his muscles again as he stared at the three downed foes. "It was a good fight, though."

"Unfortunately I need a break. I won't be able to put any wind in our sails for a while." The green-eyed Gryffindor looked at the skies. "And we seem to have lost sight of Luffy too. I can do a _Point Me_ spell if you give me a few minutes to rest up. I had no idea even half-wandless spell casting took so much out of you."

The swordsman shrugged and smirked. "No worries. As soon as you are up to it wake up the three idiots. I have an idea."

Fifteen minutes later the three idiotic castaways were rowing the boat quickly in the direction Harry's wand had indicated. Of course, it had taken Zoro dishing out some painful physical persuasion before they were willing to, uh, lend their services to a good cause, but Harry couldn't feel too bad for them after they had attacked them.

"Who would have thought you were the famous pirate hunter Zoro!" the three idiots laughed nervously, their faces black and blue, and rowed as quickly as they could. "We're really sorry for attacking you and your friend! We promise never to do it again! Please forgive us!"

"Because of you we lost sight of our friend." Zoro growled at them. "Anyway, just keep rowing in this direction." Zoro went back to putting antiseptic on the cut that Orange-Afro had given Harry. The swordsman had a tiny first aid kit in his belongings and while it wouldn't help much for bigger wounds it was enough to clean and put a bandage on Harry's cut. "That should hold."

"Thanks." Harry moved his arm around a bit, grateful that the cut wouldn't be hindering him much. Then he turned to Beanie. "I've been meaning to ask, what's with the skull-and-crossbones on your cap?"

"This is the mark of Buggy the Clown."

"Buggy?" Zoro seemed sceptic.

Harry frowned. "You mentioned him before. Who is he?"

The three castaways-turned-slaves seemed shocked that Harry and Zoro didn't know who Buggy the Clown was, and set out to rectify that at once. Buggy was apparently the captain of their pirate crew, a supposedly fearsome man with Devil Fruit powers. The three castaways had been sent out on a treasure-gathering mission, had come across another small boat with a seemingly weak, orange-haired woman aboard, had been tricked and the woman had sailed away with their boat and their treasure right before a storm had sunk what had previously been her own boat.

"And that's what happened. Terrible, huh?" Beanie finished the tale.

"She can predict the weather? The girl must be something special." Harry said from his seat next to Zoro.

The swordsman looked thoughtful. "I wonder if she'd join us...?"

The Gryffindor shrugged. "Who knows. Knowing Luffy, though, he'll probably run into her sooner or later and ask her to join. He's a magnet for trouble."

"Ain't that the truth." Zoro grumbled.

With the three castaways-turned-slaves beaten into submission and Luffy gone the next forty-five minutes or so were spent in comfortable silence between Harry and Zoro, with only a few grumbles from the rowers. Soon an island appeared on the horizon and not long afterwards their little boat docked at the dock of the town. It was smaller than the town that Harry and Hermione had met up with Adámas Dia Mond and his marines, but it was too big to be called a village.

"Is this place empty?"

"Ah, Master Harry," Buzz-Cut said, suddenly all embarrassed. "The truth is that the Buggy pirate fleet is here raiding the town. The inhabitants ran to the hills to avoid us." He sounded annoyingly proud of that fact.

"What do we do?" Orange-Afro asked. "What can we say to Captain Buggy about the lost treasure?"

"We've just got to tell him the truth. The treasure-stealing witch will be far away by now, we have no chance of tracking her down."

Zoro and Harry shared a look.

"The _Point Me_ brought us here..." Harry trailed off thoughtfully.

"The bird was headed in this direction." Zoro added.

"And we already agreed that our captain will attract trouble like flies to honey."

The green-haired swordsman smirked. "Let's go pay this Buggy a visit."

A quick glower from Zoro easily had the three castaways spilling their innermost secrets, and they told them that Buggy had made his base on the roof of the local pub which was situated in the middle of the town. Harry was the one who took the lead since Zoro's sense of direction was worth zilch. The swordsman could have gotten lost in a broom closet, Harry was certain of it.

"There'll probably be a fight." Zoro suddenly warned him.

The green-eyed Gryffindor smiled. "I should be okay if I use my wand. And since we are on land now there is less chance of actually lo-" he was cut off by an ear-shattering noise which was accompanied by the ground shaking horribly. Harry grabbed onto the nearest wall to stay standing until it was over a few moment later. "What the hell?"

"It probably came from the pub. Let's go!"

Harry was fast enough to keep up with Zoro's longer legs, and the two of them easily found the pub after a couple of directional adjustments on Harry's side. The pub was a nice, two-storey building. It had a balcony above the entrance and a set of stairs led up to the balcony. Zoro led the way up and from there they reached the roof by jumping up and grabbing onto the ledge and pulled themselves up. Luckily they had ended up behind a few crates and none of the pirates on the roof noticed them at all.

"Hey, you think that's the woman those idiots were talking about?" Zoro whispered and motioned to a girl about their age. She had high-heeled ankle-high boots, a very short brown skirt and a white t-shirt with blue horizontal stripes. But, most importantly, she had orange hair that didn't quite reach her shoulders.

"With our luck most likely." Harry replied. He pointed at a cage at the edge of the roof to their left. "And there's Luffy as expected."

"Jeeze. That guy. Honestly." The swordsman sighed in exasperation.

Something seemed to be happening around the cage where Luffy was. There was a large cannon pointing straight at the cage and the long fuse was lit. Luffy seemed to be trying to bite his way through the metal bars to escape while the orange-haired girl held a staff in her hands and was looking behind her at the lit fuse then back at the five pirates that were charging her.

"Dammit! Someone put out that fuse!" Luffy shouted, panic clear in his voice. "Water! Water! Someone get a bucket of water!"

The girl swung her staff at the charging pirates, but they easily jumped over the swing and locked their swords around the staff. She let go at once and ran towards the cannon and the lit fuse, abandoning her only weapon in the middle of a group of deadly and murderous pirates. With only seconds to spare the girl grabbed the lit fuse and with a choked scream put out the flames with her own two hands. She held on despite the pain and until it was crystal clear that the fuse was out.

"Behind you!" Luffy shouted to her as the five pirates charged her back, screaming for her death. She turned around to cast a fearful look at the charging quintet of pirates but then turned back to stare at the fuse she still held, obviously not wanting to watch the pirates as they cut her to shreds.

Zoro was already moving by this point and he stepped up between the girl and the charging pirates, holding out two of his sheathed swords – the two black ones – horizontally. The pirates ran right into the obstacle, and to Harry's surprise, Zoro didn't even budge an inch at the force of impact. In fact, the charging pirates seemed much worse off with broken noses, faces and teeth.

"Just how many idiots does it take to charge a single girl?" Zoro wondered.

"That a hypothetical question?" Harry inquired as he walked past the swordsman and towards the girl. "Hey. Are you injured?" he asked as he stopped near her and leaned down to pick up the box of matches that lay on the ground.

She blinked up at him in surprise. "Eh? Ah, no. I'm fine."

Luffy grinned widely. "Zoro! Harry! Thank goodness! You were actually able to find this place! Hurry up and get me outta here!"

"And you! What the hell did you think you were doing?" Zoro demanded. "Harry said that there was land nearby but you had to get yourself carried off by some pigeon, and now you're sitting and playing in that cage?"

Luffy muttered something about it being fun, and Harry wondered if it would be considered mutiny if he threw a rock at Luffy's hard head. Instead he sighed and shook his head. "Honestly, Luffy, you've got to be more careful."

"So you are the pirate hunter Zoro." Someone spoke up from the throng of pirates. A tall, broad-shouldered man in a striped shirt and with a long, orange coat stepped out to the front. He had an orange two-corner hat and blue frills hung low off the corners. Or that could have been his hair since he seemed to have equally blue hair hidden under his hat. What was most notable about the man, however, was his very prominent, very big and very _red_ nose.

It was bright red.

A bright, cheerful cherry red.

This man had to be Buggy the Clown.

Harry couldn't help but stare like an idiot. _'I think I can venture a guess on how he got that moniker.'_

Honestly, the thing was HUGE and very attention grabbing.

For some reason Harry felt the need to break into song about a reindeer named Rudolf, but he resisted the urge. Besides, Christmas was months away.

"What do you want? Did you come for my head?" Buggy asked Zoro.

"Nope, not interested." The swordsman replied. "I quit being a pirate hunter." He stepped back from the five pirates he had stopped and turned to walk towards Luffy and the cage.

"But I am interested. If I kill you, I'll become even more famous." Buggy said.

Zoro stopped up right next to the cannon and Harry. He rested one of his swords on his shoulder and slowly turned around to glare at the red-nosed pirate. "If you don't want to die then just leave me alone."

But Buggy the Clown wasn't about to do so and drew some daggers, still smirking. Knowing that he couldn't escape this fight Zoro sighed and drew his three swords. Buggy's pirate crew cheered for their captain as the two fighters charged at each other, but it didn't help much. The fight was over in one move, and it was rather grotesque. Harry grimaced as he watched the various severed parts of Buggy the Clown fell to the ground with soft thumps.

"Whoa! That guy's really weak!" Luffy said from his cage. "Hey, Zoro! Get me out of this cage!"

Zoro passed Harry again on his way to the cage. "Hey," Harry said quietly to the swordsman. "I can easily open the lock if you give me a moment." He would have explained how but chuckling drew both their attentions towards the pirate crew on the other end of the roof. Despite their captain having just been murdered brutally, Buggy's pirates were still chuckling and some were outright laughing.

"What's with them?" the girl wondered.

"They are pretty weird."

"Look who's talking." Harry sent Luffy a look but the young captain simply blinked.

Zoro groaned suddenly and Harry would have passed it off as the swordsman being annoyed by their reckless captain. But then Zoro fell to his knees, a dark spot of blood appearing on his green sash as the tip of a dagger stuck out. Luffy screamed the green-haired man's name and Harry stared wide-eyed at the severed arm that was still attached to the handle of the dagger that had pierced Zoro's side. Then the dagger actually pulled out and floated in the air until it reached Buggy's very much alive and non-severed body.

"The Chop-Chop Fruit." Buggy said with a wicked smirk. "That's the name of the Devil's Fruit that I ate! No matter how you try to cut me up, you can't because I'm a splitting man!" then he laughed.

"His body was fused back together! I thought the Devil's Fruit was just a myth!" the girl exclaimed in shock.

"Although it's not fatal the wound is still pretty serious!" Buggy laughed as he approached Zoro, and Harry stepped in between the two of them. Buggy stopped up and stared down at them both. "This fight is over!" the man laughed his annoying laugh again as the crew cheered for him again.

"Attacking from behind is cheating, you big red nose!" Luffy's shout stopped everything in its tracks. The pirates looked horrified at what he had called their captain and Buggy himself looked ready to explode in anger. One of his hands detached and shot towards Luffy almost faster than the eye could see and Harry barely had the time to draw his wand, let alone actually cast any spells. The impact was so great that it actually rattled the cage. Harry and Zoro watched in horror, wondering if their captain had been stabbed through the face, but then Luffy raised his head and showed that he had managed to bite down on the dagger and had actually bitten it in half. Luffy himself was without a single scratch.

"Buggy! I swear I'll kick the crap out of you!" Luffy was grinning ferociously around the dagger.

"Bloody hell! Way to go giving me a heart attack." Harry wondered if he really was made for this sort of stuff. He couldn't remember ever being like this during his years at Hogwarts. _'Is that because I was so young and ignorant back then?'_

Buggy and his pirates seemed to find Luffy's proclamation utterly hilarious, and they were _this_ close to rolling on the ground in wild laughter. It was almost insulting the way they ignored the threat from the caged and tied-up Luffy. Then again, the guy didn't exactly look very threatening where he sat. Especially not when he started laughing right along with Buggy and his crew.

"I'm not going to die! Zoro! Harry! Run!" the young captain ordered them.

"What?" Harry wondered if that bird had pecked Luffy on the head a bit harder than was strictly necessary. The idiot was raving mad.

At first Zoro seemed as confused as Harry – the girl seemed more confused than anybody else there – but Luffy kept on smiling confidently. Something must have passed between captain and first mate because Zoro smirked as well and nodded in agreement. The swordsman defended himself when Buggy attacked him again, and he sliced Buggy in half once more. While the pirate put himself together – literally – Zoro ran past him and back to the cannon. He kneeled under the muzzle so that it rested on his back and then pushed off with his legs. The cannon flipped over and was now pointing at Buggy and his crew.

"Waaah! We're gonna die!" the entire group of pirates howled in fear. "The cannon's pointing at us!"

Harry looked down at the box of matches that he still held, then at the cannon. He easily spotted the fuse, blinked and then couldn't help the smirk that spread across his own face. Kill his captain and first mate, would they? Harry pulled out a match, lit it and held it up for the pirates to see.

"Aaaah! Wait, wait, wait, wait!" Buggy shouted. "The Buggy Bomb is still in there!"

The Gryffindor felt like whistling cheerfully as he led the lit match to what little remained of the fuse. These people had tried to harm his crewmates and friends. The Harry who had emerged after the war against Voldemort wouldn't stand for such though he still didn't like taking lives. But these guys really had brought it on to themselves, and it certainly wasn't _Harry's_ fault that the cannon was loaded. The Buggy Bomb exploded out of the muzzle of the cannon with a bright light, an ear-deafening sound and a minor earthquake. It kicked up a lot of dust and debris which hid the Harry and the others from view.

"This is a good time to go," Zoro said as he clutched at his wound. "Who are you anyway?" he asked of the girl.

"I... I'm a thief."

"She," Luffy said, "is our navigator!"

Zoro and Harry shared a look.

"You're an idiot, aren't you?" the girl roared. "You're still on about that? If you've got time to say things like that then how about thinking of a way out of that cage?"

"Hey, that's a good idea! I'll do that!" Luffy grinned.

"You are such an oddball." Harry muttered as he walked up to the cage and took the lock in his hands. He didn't want to reveal his powers to the girl quite yet – they didn't even know her name for heaven's sake! – so he used the half-wandless method and cast an _Alohomora_. The lock snapped open, Harry opened the door, reached in and pulled the bound Luffy out of the cage.

The girl stared.

"Nice, Harry! Now get me outta these ropes, too!"

"We need to get out of here." Zoro said as he picked Luffy up and threw him over his shoulder.

"Hey, Zoro, your guts are squirting out." Luffy didn't sound too worried.

"You shut up and stay like that. I'll do things my own way. If they squirt out I'll just push them back in again! Now let's go!"

Harry followed Zoro and Luffy off the roof, but the girl disappeared in a completely different direction. The green-eyed male didn't care at that moment. He was more worried about getting away and seeing to Zoro's wound. And getting Luffy untied. He sighed and followed worriedly until Zoro deposited Luffy right in the middle of the street in front of a pet shop. The swordsman sat down against the wall of the pet shop and Luffy wriggled over to a white dog that sat in front of the building, and started making grimaces. The dog could have been a statue for all it moved. It didn't so much as twitch no matter what Luffy did.

"You guys do realise that we have all of Buggy's merry men on our tails?" Harry asked them as he untied Luffy, taken aback by their relaxed attitudes. Even during the time they had been camping all around Birtain, Harry had never felt comfortable or safe despite the fact that he knew that Voldemort didn't know where he, Ron and Hermione were. But Zoro and Luffy – despite being right in the middle of the enemy's back yard – seemed as relaxed as ever. As if all of this was some sort of afternoon picnic.

"We're quite far from the pub, they won't catch up with us this soon." Zoro said.

It still didn't make much sense to Harry.

"Hey, Zoro, Harry, the dog's not moving at all." Luffy complained.

"Who cares? It'll do whatever it wants to," the swordsman replied gruffly. The wound was paining him and he wanted rest.

"Is it dead?" the young pirate captain poked the dog's forehead.

The dog didn't react.

Luffy poked harder.

"Here we go again." Harry sighed as he watched the dog attack Luffy while Luffy started screaming about getting it off of him. "The dog is winning. You can't be serious." The green-eyed Gryffindor watched the spectacle, this time shocked at his own lack of, well, shock. It was scary how quickly he was getting used to the insanity around Luffy.

Zoro was staring in surprise as well for a few seconds before common sense took over. "Do you understand the situation we're in? Keep your voice down!"

"You're shouting yourself!" Harry pointed out, though he had to shout too in order to be heard over Luffy's painful cries and the snarls from the dog. "Enough you two!" he said to the dog and Luffy and walked over. He took a hold of the dog around its middle and scratched his neck to make it calm down and let go of Luffy's arm. It took a few moments, but the dog finally let go and Harry put it gently on the ground with an extra pat on the head.

"Hey! Why didn't it bite you?" Luffy demanded, sounding angry that it hadn't given Harry the same treatment.

"Perhaps it just likes him more than you." Zoro suggested with a grin.

Luffy shook his head. "Impossible! All animals like me!"

"I'm feeling insulted." Harry glared at the straw-hat wearing fool he had chosen as his captain in this strange, new world.

"What are you guys doing?" the girl had showed up again now that things were calm, and she stared at them as if they were daft. "If you just lie about here in the middle of the street Buggy will definitely find you."

"Hey! Our navigator!" the young pirate captain grinned his signature grin.

"Says who?" the girl demanded angrily at once before calming down once more. "I just came to repay my debt to you since you saved my life back there." She threw a small bag on the ground and it clinked cheerfully as it landed. The drawstring on the top was loose and inside one could clearly see a nice amount of gold coins – berri, Harry assumed.

"Waaah! How cool! Now we can buy a real ship!" Luffy looked up at her. "You're so kind to us!"

"Don't misunderstand me. I just don't want to be indebted do you, that's all." She replied, but she was smiling. "The money in there isn't enough to get you a new ship, but it will get you enough provisions to last to the next inhabited island."

Luffy laughed. "I'm so glad that we got a navigator who thinks of everything!"

"I'm not your navigator!" she roared and whacked him on the head.

Harry snickered as he picked up the pouch of money and counted them out. There were only golden coins and nothing else, it made him wonder if the only money they had was berri with nothing of smaller or bigger monetary value. It certainly simplified things. The Gryffindor sat down on the pet shop's porch right beside Zoro who was leaning against one of the columns that kept up the awning.

"Luffy sure is stubborn." He commented.

Zoro snorted. "You should have seen him when he recruited me. The idiot took on an entire marine base by himself. Though, Koby was there, too."

"Koby?"

"Yeah, Luffy met up with him before we met. A scrawny, pink-haired kid with glasses. He stayed back in that town to join the marines."

"Somehow I'm not all that surprised that Luffy is friends with a marine."

Their conversation and peace was broken by an old man with curly, gray hair on top and at ear-height while the hair between was straight. He looked like a poodle, and he was dressed in an old, round leather breastplate, shoulder-guards, shin-guards and arm-guards. He wore a pair of shorts, wooden sandals, glasses and had a spear on his back. Introducing himself as Boodle, the mayor of the town, and after he made sure that they weren't hurting the dog the old man offered to take Zoro to the doctor at the shelters. Zoro refused that, but accepted the offer of sleeping in a bed in the mayor's own house which was right across the street. Harry couldn't quite understand why the swordsman didn't want real help, but there was nothing he could do. Zoro was as stubborn as Luffy, and he probably knew his own body better.

'_Somehow that doesn't sound very comforting,'_ Harry mused as Boodle told them the sad story of the dog and why it sat outside the pet shop. The old mayor put a plate of dog food in front of Chouchou – the name of the dog – and they watched as it ate it all up. Chouchou had barely finished the food and licked the bowl clean when a tremor through the earth made it clatter against the cobblestones.

"Hm?" Luffy looked at the bowl.

"That can't be good." Harry muttered and stood up. He drew his wand and stepped forwards a few steps so that Luffy, the girl, Boodle and Chouchou were behind him. The food bowl continued to clatter against the stones as something huge and dangerous came closer, and a deep snarl echoed between the houses around them.

"What is that?" the girl sounded worried.

The mayor looked horrified. "It's him! Beast-tamer Mohji!"

"Wha-what's a beast-tamer? H-hey! Wait a minute!" the girl ran off after the panicking mayor.

"Something's coming. Hey, Harry." Luffy was still sitting in front of Chouchou with his back to the street, and, as usual, he didn't sound very worried.

"Hmm?" Harry turned to look at him.

Luffy opened his mouth to say something else, but their conversation was cut short.

The two of them craned their necks backwards and looked up as an enormous shadow fell over them. An enormous lion loomed over them. It was easily twice as tall as a man, had rows of razor sharp teeth and claws, and its mane was... a very light greyish-purple colour that made Harry blink twice. The lion would have been ferocious, but the purple kind of just made it seem... odd. Weird. Stupid. Who the hell got the bright idea to colour the poor animal's mane greyish-purple?

"Captain Buggy is pretty mad. You guys have committed a serious crime." On top of the lion sat a man. He had a pair of puffs in his hair which looked like a pair of ears, and the hair went all along his chin like a beard too. The tiny puffy fur west and the furred, clawed shoes with the golden buckle just made him seem very, very, very weird.

Something Luffy wasn't shy about pointing out. "You're wearing a really weird costume."

"You idiot! Watch what you're saying! This is my hair!" the beast-tamer shouted.

"That makes it even worse."

"Shuddup!" Mohji pointed furiously at them. "Don't you know how great and terrible I am? I'm the beast-tamer Mohji!"

"We already knew that."

"Idiot!"

Harry couldn't help but be amused at just how good Luffy was at pissing people off. The best part about it was that the rubber-man wasn't even trying; he just said exactly what he meant. He was very straightforward. Honestly, it could be greatly amusing in certain situations as Harry was finding out.

"I have no reason to kill you." Mohji said once he regained his composure. "Tell me where Roronoa Zoro is."

"No way!" Harry and Luffy said at the same time. Did this idiot really think that they would just reveal where their wounded crewmember was resting?

"Ritchie! Kill them both!" Mohji ordered the enormous lion who roared and swiped at the two of them with an enormous paw and speed an animal that large shouldn't have. Harry was taken off guard and the direct hit sent him flying right into Luffy and the two of them crashed right through a building and then landed roughly on the street on the other side.

Harry groaned in pain and gasped for the breath that had been knocked out of him. His ribs were hurting like hell and he had three short scratches from where the lion's claws had accidentally cut him, but it was a miracle that nothing was broken or that he was alive at all. Then again, Luffy was the one who had taken the brunt of breaking through the walls of the house. The Gryffindor groaned again as his breathing finally started to level out again. "I can't believe we survived something like that without a single broken bone."

"That's not normal?" the young captain asked from where he lay right next to Harry.

"Of course it's not normal!"

Luffy sat up, not really caring about it. He didn't seem worse for wear at all. "Whoa! We landed all the way on the other side! Okay! I've decided! After we get rid of those people, I'm going to make Nami our navigator!"

Harry blinked and carefully sat up as well. Nami? Ah, had to be the orange-haired girl. Ah well, he would worry about that when that time came, right now the green-eyed male was still wondering how the hell he managed to survive such a hit and such a trajectory and fall. This place really was odd.

'_Hmmm, perhaps my magic acted up and protected me without any conscious effort from me?'_ he thought. _'Or perhaps this world is affecting me somehow? Valid theories both of them.'_

A shocked exclamation brought Harry out of his thoughts and turned his attention to a house corner where the girl – Nami, he reminded himself – and Boodle appeared. Both were staring at Harry and Luffy as if the two had started growing a second head or something.

"How the hell can you two still be alive?" Nami gaped along with the mayor.

"You're both alive?" the mayor hurried over to them. He didn't seem to be able to believe his own eyes.

"It's a bad thing that we're alive?" Luffy wondered and Harry nearly did one of those face-palms. Hadn't he just explained the damn situation to Luffy less than a minute before?

Nami stopped right in front of them and pointed furiously at the house they had wrecked. "You two smashed through a house, but you appear to be perfectly fine! It's too weird!"

"Tell me about it." Harry grumble and got to his feet and started to dust himself off. Luckily he had managed to keep a good hold of his wand. He didn't fancy going through the wrecked house in search of the damned thing. Then again, it was the Elder Wand so perhaps it would have come to him somehow. Magic things were impossible to understand sometimes.

"What's your reason for coming to this town? Why are you involved with those pirates?"

Luffy turned to grin at the mayor. "I just found my reason! The map to the Grand Line and a navigator!"

"There's a map here?" Harry stared at Luffy. "Whatever, tell me about it later. Let's go check up on Zoro. Mohji might have found him by now."

"We'll be right back!" Luffy ignored Boodle's shouting that they would be eaten by the lion, and ran off with Harry following him. "Fire?" the young man suddenly sniffed the air like an animal.

Harry pointed. "It seems to be coming from the pet shop! Here, I'll get us there at once!" he said and grabbed a hold of Luffy's arm. A twist and a crack later the two apparated in front of the burning building. It was a testament to the seriousness of the situation that Luffy didn't comment on this new way of travel at all. The pet shop was indeed burning up. Chouchou – beaten and cut, bloodies and with patches of fur missing – sat in front of the burning building and barked at it as if that could stop the flames. It reminded Harry painfully about the loss of Hedwig, his faithful owl companion. And Dobby.

Chouchou howled sadly where he sat.

Luffy turned to walk off in search of the perpetrators, but Harry stopped him. The young pirate captain turned to him. "You gonna take care of it?"

"Leave it to me." Harry may not have normally done this, but at the moment – with painful memories of those precious to him flying around – he was pissed off by the senseless act.

"Okay." Luffy nodded. "I'll wait here." He sat down next to Chouchou and stared at the flames as well.

It was easy as hell to find Mohji. All Harry had to do was follow Ritchie's heavy and slow footsteps, and then quickly get in front of them to head them off. Mohji was paying more attention to a bite on his arm – Harry hoped it was infected – while Ritchie was carrying a carton of dog food that obviously came from the pet shop. They stopped up in shock when they spotted Harry.

"Hey! Mohji exclaimed. "Didn't I just kill you back there?"

Harry didn't say anything and instead pointed his wand at them.

Mohji snorted. "What are you going to do with a little stick? Whatever! This time we'll bite your head off!" he jumped off the roaring Ritchie, and the lion attacked.

"You know, until I met you guys I was actually quite fond of lions." Harry commented. "_Stupefy_." He said it calmly. After having faced dementors, hippogriffs, enormous spiders, werewolves, Voldemort, a basilisk and _dragons_, an overgrown lion wasn't much to worry about, and Ritchie went down for the count with a single, low-powered hit of the spell. The beast's momentum carried forwards until it slid to a stop right in front of Harry.

"Ritchie!" Mohji cried. "What the hell are you?"

"Just Harry."

"C-could it be that you've eaten a Devil's Fruit like Captain Buggy?" the beast-tamer went on without listening to what Harry had said. "I understand! I apologize for everything that has happened here!" the man was trying not-so-subtly to get away.

"It's not me you're supposed to apologize to. _Accio_!" the green-eyed Gryffindor summoned Mohji who screamed like a little girl as he was dragged forwards no matter how much he struggled. Mohji's forward momentum was stopped by his face meeting with Harry's fist. Now, Harry didn't have the insane strength that Luffy and Zoro seemed to pack, but he could deliver a good punch if the need arose, and Mohji was sent to the ground. Harry added a quick _Stupefy_ to the beast-tamer's face for good measure.

Hermione would probably kill him for what he had done, but it felt good to take revenge for Chouchou.

Casting one last look around at the two unconscious enemies, Harry bent down to pick up the box of dog food that Ritchie had been carrying, and headed back to the pet shop where a dog and a captain were waiting for him. Nami and Boodle had appeared again, too, and she seemed to be arguing with Luffy while the mayor was trying to hold her back. Harry ignored them and instead walked up to Chouchou, put the box of dog food in front of the little white dog and sat down beside him.

"That's the only one left, the other were eaten." He felt a bit as if he was talking to Sirius in dog form. "I didn't see it, but I'm sure that you fought very well."

Chouchou picked up the box and walked off. He stopped right before he disappeared behind a corner and barked at them.

Luffy grinned and waved. "You do your best too!" he shouted and then turned to Nami. "See? That's the kind of people I want in my crew, not the idiots that Buggy has hired."

Nami sighed and then smiled slightly. "I'm sorry that I yelled at you and for thinking that you and your crew were bad."

"It's okay! You have your reasons." Luffy stood up and brushed himself off. "Not that I want to hear them."

Harry sighed at his captain. "With such a policy you might end up trusting the wrong person one day."

"Nah. Imposs-"

"I CAN'T STAND IT ANYMORE!" the mayor's shout echoed between the buildings, and Harry, Luffy and Nami stared at him. "I'm so useless! Chouchou and even the brat-"

"Oi!" Harry protested but was ignored.

"-fought hard to defend the town but I, who am the mayor, haven't done anything at all! There are some fights real men simply cannot avoid! Isn't that right, kid?" the mayor addressed Luffy.

"That's right, mister!" Luffy grinned.

"Don't encourage him!" Nami shouted.

Boodle paid them no mind. "Forty years ago this place was just a field. We built everything from scratch and little by little the town and population grew! This town and the people here are my treasure! I won't let the pirates do whatever they want to this place! I'm going to fight!"

A deafening explosion of light and sound went off from the direction of the pub, and the row of houses right next to where Harry, Luffy, Nami and Boodle were standing were levelled with the ground. The force and shockwaves sent the four spectators to the ground. Debris and dirt was flying through the smoky air and Harry coughed as some dust got in his throat. Buggy had just fired off yet another of his cannonballs, and had destroyed even more of the town.

"Even my house..." the mayor almost whispered in shock.

"Your house?" Harry parroted. "Hey! Zoro's still in there!"

"Eeh?" Luffy shouted in panic. "Zoro! Are you still alive?"

It took a couple of heart-stopping moments before Zoro appeared in the dust and smoke, sitting on the ground and holding his head. "What an awful way of waking someone up. I wanted to sleep some more." He groaned.

It was at this point that the mayor became utterly furious again and ran off while shouting a challenge for Buggy the Clown. Nami was clearly worried for the old man, but Luffy assured her that he wouldn't let anything happen to old Boodle. And then Luffy asked her to join the crew again since they were both after the map to the Grand Line.

"I will not become a pirate." She said then smiled. "But I will join you guys, for the sake of both our goals."

"Things are finally getting interesting around here." Zoro said as he got to his feet.

"Don't tell me you're going too?" Nami stared at the swordsman. "You're wounded!"

Zoro smirked. "This wound hurts my reputation more than it hurts me." He tied a dark green bandana over his hair to shade his eyes and minimize the glare of the sun.

Harry stepped up next to him as they followed Luffy. "You do realize that there is little to no logic in what you just said."

"Shut up!"

They followed in Boodle's tracks and reached the pub just in time for Luffy to hinder the old mayor being choked to death by Buggy's detached hand. "As promised," Luffy grinned up at Buggy. "I came to beat you!"

"Straw-hat!" Buggy called his hand back to him and it reconnected with the rest of the body. "So you've actually got the guts to come back here! You morons! You're all so dead!"

"Listen, I don't care if you fight or not, do as you wish. I'm just here for the treasure." Nami said to Zoro and Harry.

"Yeah, I know." Zoro replied.

Harry rolled his eyes. "You people are so weird."

"You're the one who knocked out an enormous lion!" Nami shouted at him.

Luffy's grin stretched even more while the old mayor was busy catching his breath and evening out his breathing.

"PAY ATTENTION WHEN PEOPLE ARE TALKING TO YOU!" Buggy roared at them from the roof of the pub.

"You brats, what are you all doing here?" the mayor coughed as he shakily got to his feet. "You outsiders should mind your own business. This is my fight, this is my town, and I will protect it!" Boddle picked up his spear and glared at the four teens around him. "Don't interfere!"

The next thing you knew, Luffy had smashed the old man's face against the nearest building, and the mayor was knocked out and unconscious.

"What on earth did you do that for?" Nami and Harry shouted.

"He's in the way." Luffy smiled.

"Good idea. The old man would have charged recklessly and would have gotten himself killed. He's better off unconscious." Zoro said.

Harry shook his head. "There are much better ways of knocking someone out than knocking them face first into a brick wall!"

Luffy walked forwards a few steps and stared up at Buggy. The atmosphere was tense; everyone expected a challenge to come from the young captain, or some sort of threat. Luffy took a deep breath. "HEY, YOU HUGE, BIG, RED NOSE!"

Everyone stared in shock.

"Oh heaven help me." This time the green-eyed Gryffindor did a real, honest to god face-palm.

"Fire the Buggy Bomb!" Buggy roared in fury.

Harry, Zoro and Nami wasted no time in getting out of the way, but Luffy stayed right where he was. As the cannonball shot out of the muzzle of the cannon, Luffy started sucking in air. "_Gum-Gum Balloon_!"

His middle grew and grew and grew – and it reminded Harry of the way Aunt Marge had been blown up when he was thirteen – and nothing happened when the cannonball hit Luffy. In fact, the ball bounced back the way it had come, straight towards a horrified Buggy and crew.

The poor pub didn't survive its meeting with the Buggy Bomb, but at least no other houses were destroyed this time around.

"Tell us these things beforehand." Zoro groaned.

"It hit the enemy and their numbers have decreased. Shall we start?" Luffy grinned.

"What the hell are you?" Nami demanded. "This isn't humanly possible! How the hell did you just swell up like a balloon?"

"That's the _Gum-Gum Balloon_."

"I'm asking what the hell that is, you monster!" Nami shrieked.

Harry sighed and pointed over at the decimated pub. "Spare that for later. We aren't done with those guys quite yet."

The four of them turned to look at the pub. From the dust and debris several figured emerged. Buggy had actually used two of his own crewmembers as a shield, and next to Buggy a black-haired man with a long, chequered scarf had used Ritchie as a shield. When Mohji dug his way out of the rubble he certainly wasn't happy to see his lion used in such a manner. The beast-tamer attacked his black-haired team mate but was instead sent flying right towards Harry's group. The green-eyed Gryffindor stepped up and with a wave of his wand banished Mohji right back the way he had come. Buggy and the other guy ducked and Mohji kept on flying until he had a rather painful meeting with a house wall.

"Ouch." Nami winced.

"Oho! So two of you have Devil's Fruit powers, eh?" Buggy glared at them. "Go ahead, Cabaji."

The black-haired man nodded and attacked with his sword.

Riding on a unicycle.

Harry stared. "These guys are so odd. Honestly, a unicycle? And what's with the name? Sounds like some sort of salad."

"I'm the chief of staff, Cabaji the Acrobat! Captain Buggy's anger has been transferred to me!" the man proclaimed proudly, his sword headed straight towards Harry.

The wizard didn't have time to defend himself. Zoro stepped up in front of him and met the sword head on with his own. "Since you're using a sword, I'll be your opponent."

Luffy, Nami and Harry could only watch the following battle between the two swordsmen, all three of them glaring in fury when Cabaji kicked Zoro's wound and used other dirty tricks. Then Zoro went and made his own wound even bigger for some stupid reason, and Harry wondered if the guy was suffering from some sort of brain-loss as well as blood-loss. Nami disappeared off to search for the map to the Grand Line and Buggy's treasure while Luffy and Harry were left watching Zoro's fight. When Buggy tried to interfere by holding Zoro in one place, Harry pointed his wand at the approaching hand and started to bounce it all over the place just like the fake Mad-Eye Moody had done to Malfoy the Ferret, and Harry made sure that it was as painful as possible.

"Keep your big nose out of other people's fights." Harry said and whacked the hand against a potted cactus with long, sharp spikes.

"You little bastard!" Buggy howled at him, face contorted in both pain and anger.

Luffy laughed.

Zoro's fight with Cabaji was over shortly afterwards, Zoro being the winner of course. "Luffy, I'm going to sleep." Zoro said from where he had collapsed on the ground in the middle of the street.

"I'll take care of the rest." Luffy grinned and then turned to Harry. "Get him out of the way."

"Of course, captain." Harry released the spell on Buggy's abused hand and used magic to move Zoro out of the middle of the street and onto one of the wooden front porches of one of the shops. Sitting down beside the peacefully sleeping swordsman Harry summoned the man's swords and carefully put them back in their sheaths before he placed them next to Zoro. Just like Luffy hadn't interfered with Zoro's fight, Harry wasn't going to interfere with Luffy's – unless Luffy was near death, of course. Both Luffy and Zoro seemed big on not interfering in fights – some sort of honour principle? – and Harry would try to follow that as well.

Besides, Harry doubted that Luffy would lose to a clown like Buggy.

Buggy started the fight by insulting Luffy and his dream, after which they got talking about someone called Shanks, a person they both knew. Luffy quit horsing around when Buggy's daggers cut the brim of and then fully through the top of his straw hat, and after that there wasn't much of the battle. Buggy kept on parting his body to avoid attacks while Luffy kept on attacking. Nami appeared carrying a huge sack of loot and Buggy tried to attack her, too, but Luffy brought his attention back to himself.

"I'm your opponent." Luffy grinned as usual. While Buggy was trying to get over this new attack, Luffy turned to Nami. "Hey. Leave the treasure and get out of here, or he'll attack you again."

"No way!" she replied as if the very idea was ludicrous. "Why should I leave behind my treasure?"

Buggy, obviously, didn't like his treasure being stolen by a thief, and split himself in even more parts that whooshed past Luffy and all headed towards Nami who was starting to look worried and ran off. Buggy's head and hands followed her and it ended up in quite a comical situation. Harry snickered as he watched Luffy tickle and torture Buggy's feet, and then watched the ridiculous pulling fight between Nami and Buggy's hands.

"Let go!" Nami shouted.

"You let go!" Buggy yelled.

"These guys are so weird." Harry stated for the nth time, casting a look at Zoro who was still sleeping like a baby.

Luffy kicked Buggy's head to the ground and the sack of treasure tore open. Harry had to admit that he appreciated the sight of the twinkling jewels and gold coins. Buggy was furious and tried to reassemble his many body parts, but something went wrong. The only things he got back were his hands and his feet. The man's shocked expression, the way he looked and the fact that he could barely reach a person's knee, sent Harry into a fit of laughter and nearly made the green-eyed Gryffindor roll around on the ground like an idiot.

"Are you looking for these?" Nami asked from where she stood over a pile of Buggy's body parts. She had captured them and tied them firmly together, and no matter how much they twitched and struggled to get away the ropes held them back.

"Ack! My parts!" the mini-Buggy exclaimed.

Luffy laughed. "No wonder you're a thief!" he said to Nami as his hands stretched and stretched backwards. "Hey, Buggy! _Gum-Gum Bazooka_!"

The rubber arms snapped forwards, hit mini-Buggy and launched the man high into the air and far, far, far away from this particular island. Harry was still laughing, clutching his stomach and trying to dry the tears that were running down his face. This entire thing had been ridiculous! This was definitely going to be his new patronus-inducing happy memory.

"I'll help you patch it up later." Nami said to Luffy as he put on his torn straw-hat.

"Eh? What?" Luffy turned to look at her.

"Nothing!" she held up a sack of gold half as big as the enormous one she had been carrying before. "I had to split the loot in two sacks since the other one tore. Can you help me carry one? It's really heavy."

Luffy looked a bit exasperated. "You never give up, do you?"

"Buggy's really selective about his treasure, so everything in these sacks is high quality!" Nami almost sang and then cuddled one of the sacks. "All of this is probably worth ten million berri!"

Harry was calm – but still chuckling occasionally whenever he thought of mini-Buggy – when Luffy walked over and started waking Zoro. "It's time to go!"

"Is the fight over already?"

"Yup! I got the map and the navigator!" Luffy was very proud.

Zoro looked at Nami and then groaned. "Crap, I'm going to faint. I can't move either."

"Of course!" Nami said. "If you could move, you guys wouldn't be human!"

"Why was I included?" the young captain asked.

Nami looked ready to rupture a blood vessel. "You're the weirdest one of all!"

The residents of the town showed up and so, before Harry really knew what was going on, Luffy's mouth had gotten them in trouble again and the residents were chasing them out of town. Luffy was dragging Zoro and was grinning widely, Harry ran next to him, Nami was screaming in horror and carrying her two sacks of treasure, and the residents were shouting for their deaths.

"Why do you always have to speak without using your brain?" Nami demanded.

"This is a good town!" Luffy replied. "For the sake of the mayor everyone is doing their best to fight! No matter what excuse we came up with they would be just as angry! Turn here!"

"Hey!" Harry yelped as Luffy nearly ran him down when the young captain turned into an alley on their right.

"Don't say that at the last second!" Nami exclaimed as she missed the turn and had to backtrack.

At the end of the alley they jumped over Chouchou. The dog had been patched up and didn't twitch when they passed over it, but it did start barking when the residents tried to pursue the four fleeing pirates. No matter what the residents said, Couchou continued barking and refused to let them pass that way.

"THANKS, DOGGIE!" Luffy shouted over his shoulder, and Harry laughed. The green-eyed Gryffindor couldn't remember ever having had so much fun while being chased around by a murderous horde of town residents.

Back on the beach they stopped next to the boat that belonged to Zoro, Luffy and Harry. Right next to it was an equally small boat that Nami had stolen from the three castaways. "Ahh!" the girl panted as she dropped her heavy burden. "We're finally here. Thank goodness, we somehow escaped thanks to Chouchou. Why do we have to be in this situation?"

"It wasn't that bad. We finished what we wanted to do."

Nami sighed. "Well, that's true."

Harry simply chuckled and watched them. Luffy hadn't had any trouble whatsoever to carry Zoro while running at top speed through the village. The kid certainly had some strength in him. Then again, so did Nami considering that she had just carried to extremely heavy sacks of treasure all that way. Luffy handed Zoro over for Harry to support and was soon ooh-ing over the boat that Nami had stolen when the self-same three pirates that had rowed Harry and Zoro to the island jumped out from behind the bulwark where they had been hiding.

"We've been waiting for you, thief!" Buzz-Cut said, striking a pose with his fists on his hips. "Who knew we would meet again on this beach."

"You know them?" Luffy asked.

"Yeah, just a little." Nami said nervously.

Harry simply stood there beside Luffy and watched the scene unfold with great amusement. After Ritchie and Buggy these three stooges weren't worth worrying about. The green-eyed Gryffindor didn't so much as twitch when Beanie approached him, trusting that if something came up Luffy would take care of the trouble while Harry continued to support the sleeping Zoro – that man really could sleep anywhere and through anything.

"Not just a little," Beanie said. "We go waaaay back! We'll teach you and your friends that it's bad to steal from other people. Hey, bastard! Stop pretending to be asleep!" he whacked Zoro on the head.

The second Zoro raised his head the three pirates turned pale and ran away screaming in fear. Harry sighed. "I'm feeling insulted that they didn't recognise me. I've been looking at them this whole time." He muttered. They got into the ships and a convenient wind from Harry had them moving away from the docks and the town. Harry, Zoro and Luffy were in their small, cramped boat while Nami had the other one all to herself.

"Your boat is still flying Buggy's flag." Luffy pointed at the black sail with the skull-and-crossbones painted on it.

"I stole it from him. I'll change it some other time." Nami replied.

Boodle the mayor showed up on the docks and shouted farewell to them before they had travelled far, and Nami was horrified and furious when she realized that Luffy had left behind a sack of gold on the docks. Rebuild the town or not, it was her gold and she tried to take revenge by violently drowning Luffy, pushing his head into the water while he protested loudly. Zoro started laughing at the spectacle, and Harry shook his head in completely amusement.

'_That I hooked up with these two might be a good thing after all.'_ The green-eyed Gryffindor grinned.

For better or for worse they had added a navigator to their crew.

**-x-x-x-x-**

There, please tell me what you think.

**Next chapter: Gaimon's island.**

Thanks to:

PsychicZai, Illusive Man, 917brat, lildevil425, avatoa, Netti and Ireadtomuch.


	3. Chapter 3

**Tales From the Grand Line**

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing but the obvious, the rest belongs to JK Rowling and Eichiro Oda.

**Author's Note:** I've tried to stick to the customary _One Piece_madness. I hope I managed to do it. Enjoy!

**Rating:** T

**Chapter Three:**** Paradise Island**

They had been at sea for about two days now, the three males sharing their boat while Nami commandeered the entire boat she had previously stolen from Buggy the Clown. Once they had put some distance between themselves and the Buggy crew, the four of them relaxed a bit more. Luffy, of course, demanded food and thus Nami was treated to a quick and shocking lesson in Harry's 'mystery man' status and his 'mystery home' origins – as told by Luffy around a grilled fish, the tail of the animal wriggling up and down as the young captain spoke.

"Mystery man? Mystery home?" Nami parroted, staring at Harry, her fish in her hand.

"Something like that," Harry said. "I really couldn't be bothered trying to explain it all to Luffy. It'd go in one ear and out the other. In essence I'm a wizard from another world."

"That is possible?" the girl wondered, wide-eyed and eager and suddenly seeming very young.

After the meal – and a Spanish Inquisition on Harry's world – Nami turned to Luffy and offered to fix the rips in his straw hat. Harry could have done it easily with magic, but he had heard her promise to fix it back on the island, and figured it was best to let it be. Nami had even asked Harry not to mess too much with the sails by using a magical wind for it threw off her navigation, at least not to do it unless completely necessary or she gave the go-ahead. Harry didn't mind either way, really, so he just did as she asked. Nami was the navigator, she probably knew best, Harry figured.

"You know, you sure don't listen much to our navigator." Harry remarked as Luffy rowed on.

The kid had spotted an island and was now rowing towards it like mad. Zoro wasn't doing much to stop Luffy, and Harry was forced to use magic on Nami's boat to make sure that she could keep up with the pace.

"Let's see if we can find someone who will join us!" Luffy was eager as always.

"She just said that it was a deserted island!" Harry groaned.

Zoro yawned where he lay against the side of the boat. "Let's look for food and fresh water too, we can't live on fish forever."

The green-eyed Gryffindor sighed and gave up. There was nothing that seemed to shake these two, was there? Actually, come to think of it, perhaps it would be best _not_ to meet the thing or person that could shake Luffy and Zoro. Such a person had to be a bloody monster.

The deserted island was small, covered in a thick forest and with a steep, high hill in the center whose top half could be seen over the tree tops. It really wasn't much, but Zoro had been right. They could probably find some food and water here, and Harry had been getting annoyed at eating fish all day long. They could have eaten back in the town where Buggy had taken up residence, but of course Luffy had to go and get them in trouble with the locals. And no, Harry wasn't feeling bitter. Much.

"It's just forest!"

"Like I said," Nami sighed in frustration, "it's an unpopulated island! It'd be weird if you found someone for the crew here of all places."

Luffy, of course, wasn't listening. He was trying to wake Zoro for a hike through the woods. "I want to explore!"

"Just leave him be to sleep," Harry spoke up. "He's still wounded, and someone has to stay with the ships and make sure that they aren't carried back out to sea. Or attacked and scuttled in case someone actually _has_ taken up residence here."

"But I don't want to go exploring alone!"

"Then take Nami with you." This garnered a groan from the girl in question, but Harry ignored her and pointed in a random direction. "You two go that way and look for edible stuff and fresh water, and I'll go this way and do the same. I doubt it will take much time to explore the island fully, but just in case let's say we meet back here at twilight and no later. Just in case."

Harry walked along the beach and then followed a path further in amongst the trees, though he made sure to always be able to see the coastline through the tree trunks. The green-eyed wizard was keeping his eyes peeled for something edible, and he found several coconut bearing palm trees at one point. Using a simple summoning charm, Harry picked the ripe coconuts and shrunk them down before placing them in his pockets.

"I need some sort of belt with pouches or something, it'd make this far easier," he grumbled to himself. He decided to get an upgrade on his outfit in the next town they reached if possible. He didn't blend in with the materials of his clothes, or the style, and they weren't really made for the constant spray of salt water and winds that he would experience out on the sea. And perhaps a dagger of some sort to have in case he temporarily lost his wand. He would have to ask Zoro for advice on that, the swordsman would probably know where and how to start searching for a weapon that would fit him.

_Bwock, bwock, bwock_ clucked the fox with the rooster tail and crest as it passed by.

Harry stared after it, not sure he had seen what he had seen.

A furred snake with rabbit ears slithered by, making rabbit-noises.

Harry gaped at it like an idiot.

A pig with a lion's mane strolled by with an _oink_.

The wizarding world could produce some odd animals – case in point: screwts – but this was ridiculous.

A small, silverfish-grey Chinese Fireball dragon hatchling came flying through the air without any really visible wings and moving up and down and side to side like a snake. It was about the length of Harry's arm and it didn't move on like the other animals. It was only five minutes later that Harry realised two things: A) Chinese Fireballs were _always_ red and gold in colour, and B) how the hell did a Chinese Fireball get here into this world?

Harry made a move towards his wand but the little dragon merely landed on the ground and in the next moment a certain Draco Malfoy stood in front of the green-eyed Gryffindor.

"Took you long enough to realise that I wasn't a normal inhabitant of this island – although I use 'normal' in the looses possible sense." Malfoy brushed his clothes off. What had once been good quality clothes, were now ripped and dirty and the sleeves of his shirt had been torn off.

"Good to see you too, Malfoy." And, funnily enough, it was. The Slytherin was something familiar in this unfamiliar world, and the first wizard Harry had met since they had travelled here. "I didn't know you were an animagus."

"Not exactly something I like to show off, especially since I'm not registered. Remember what I said about self-preservation?" Malfoy looked at him. "So, what are you doing here? Are you here with anyone else? How did you get here and I _will_ be going with you when you leave. Spending a month or so on this island is beyond murderous."

Harry felt amusement as he explained his journey so far and the odd companions he had picked up – or, rather, who had picked up him. "And now we will continue to the Grand Line. I am certain that everyone else will head that way, too. So, what's your story? Stuck on this island all the time since we arrived?"

"Yes," the blond frowned. "I ended up being paired with the Weaslette. We quite literally crash landed on the island. I had my animagus form and managed to avoid the trees, but the Weasle- but Ginerva wasn't as lucky. She got speared through by an old tree trunk that had been torn into sharp points by lightening at some point. We got her off and healed her as best we could, but the wounds were too severe. She stubbornly held on for three days before she gave in and went back to the wizarding world. She has contacted me through the bond a couple of times, so she's okay. I'm pretty certain she's planning to come back here at some point."

His heart had jumped into his throat at the news of Ginny's unfortunate landing – she must have been in such incredible pain – but at least she was safe now. Harry took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "So two of us have now gone back, at least that we know of."

"From what you told me about the marines and the pirates, there are probably several more," Malfoy said. "We will just have to find out during the journey.

"You mentioned a 'we' earlier. What 'we' are you talking about, exactly?" Harry asked.

"Gaimon. He lives here on the island and takes care of the animals here – or perhaps I should say, the odd Frankenstein mutated creatures around here."

The green-eyed wizard rubbed his forehead. Leave it to Luffy to find a deserted island that actually had someone living there.

Draco introduced Harry to Gaimon shortly after that. Gaimon was a dark-skinned man who was stuffed in a treasure chest with only his head, feet and hands sticking out. Oh, and let's not forget the enormous afro that made the man look like a short bush.

"You sure are, uhm, very, er, sheltered in that chest?" Harry tried to find something nice to say.

"Yes, my parents were very strict and kept me hidden awa- STOP PULLING THAT JOKE WITH ME!" Gaimon howled. Apparently it was a bit of a touchy subject.

Luffy had of course already met up with the strange man, and he and Nami had apparently already helped Gaimon search out for a treasure on the island. Harry didn't pay much attention and Draco later told him that the treasure was atop the steep hill and that there was nothing there but empty treasure chests.

"I flew up one day when he wasn't around." The Slytherin whispered. "Gaimon doesn't know I can turn into a dragon hatchling, he thinks we were out flying – apparently our ship was caught up in a storm, we got wrapped up in the main sail's ropes which lifted us up and away like a parachute, and landed on his island."

"Is that even possible?"

Malfoy shrugged. "Damned if I know. You just recently met up with a man who can stretch, a man who can survive being chopped into various body parts, and then you have the animals here. It could be possible in this world."

While Nami was a bit reserved Luffy was eager to meet another 'mystery man', and he was bouncing around eagerly. "Since uncle," meaning Gaimon, "won't join us, you'll have to do!"

"I'll have to do?" Draco sounded rather insulted at that.

"Yeah! You can do the same as Harry, right?"

"I can do more than Potter."

"Show us!"

The Slytherin frowned slightly, and Harry nudged him with his elbow. "Show them your animagus form. They need to know for future reference, and you know you want to bask in their awe and worship."

"I friggin' hate you, Potter." Draco sneered but relented.

"WOHOOO!" Luffy was jumping up and down in pure glee at Draco's dragon form, and he grabbed for the silver, snake-like form only to have Draco avoid him and land on Harry's shoulders. "That's so cool! We now have a snake for a pet!"

In the next second the straw-hat wearing captain had to avoid a relatively rage fireball courtesy of one silver Chinese Fireball hatchling.

The dragon jumped off Harry's shoulders. "I am a _dragon_!" Draco growled as he changed back.

"That's amazing!" Nami stared with wide eyes at the blond.

"This world sure is full of surprises!" Gaimon grinned. "I always knew there was something special about you, Draco!"

"Now we'll always be able to start a fire to cook food!" Luffy proclaimed.

Draco turned to look at the amused Harry. "Is that all I'm going to be good for? Starting _fires_?"

Harry chuckled. "Just let it go, Malfoy, Luffy is Luffy. And he is now your captain, so what he says goes."

"I'm a Malfoy! I'm worth so much more than that! Just for that I think I'm going to stay right here on this island!"

They spent the rest of the day gathering fruit and other food, and fresh water. Zoro had slept the entire day away and he didn't seem all that surprised when he med Draco that night. Gaimon and his odd animals held a party for them, and there was much joy and cheer going around. Draco had been tasked with lighting the bonfire, though Luffy was quite disappointed when the Slytherin simply used his wand and didn't turn into a dragon again. Luffy was certainly into the party when it got going, as were Nami and Gaimon. Zoro, Harry and Draco took it easier and sat back and watched the other three, drinking the sweet coconut milk. And some of the animals kept up a good beat, banging and scratching on logs and rocks and the ground to keep the rhythm.

"These people are weird." The blond declared as he watched Luffy dance around.

"My thought's exactly." Harry grinned. "They have no planning skills whatsoever. They walk on straight ahead no matter what's in their way."

"Then why are you still here with them? That doesn't sound like too good a life policy, and I _know_ you've grown a brain since the war."

"Because they're a good kind of crazy."

Malfoy blinked. "Butting their heads against everything in their path is a good kind of crazy?" he asked, but Harry simply chuckled and didn't answer. But it was true. Luffy and Zoro were rather crazy, but they weren't insane.

The next morning after they had had a good, long sleep-in Luffy asked Gaimon again if he wanted to join the crew, but the man refused once more.

"Thank you for inviting me, but I still want to stay here and be the guardian of this forest. A lot of people have come over the years to capture these rare and odd animals, and I've grown to like them all too much to allow that." The man said. "I can't leave them behind."

"You're a rare and precious animal, too," Luffy said kindly.

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" Gaimon roared.

"Has he no sense of social tact whatsoever?" Draco stared at Luffy. The young Malfoy had met a lot of weird people as a pureblood wizard, but Luffy was quickly rising to the spot of Weirdest Person Ever.

"The worst thing is that he probably meant it as an honest compliment." Harry grinned and Zoro chuckled next to him.

"Ain't that the truth." The swordsman grinned.

"I'm sure you'll find good people for your crew," Gaimon continued after he had calmed down. He nodded towards the boats where Harry, Draco, Zoro and Nami were getting ready to push the small boats out into the water and jump into them. "You have a good start with these. Go find the One Piece and then go buy the world!"

"I'll do it! See ya!" Luffy promised and stretched out a hand to one of the boats, easily pulling himself on board. They could see Gaimon and his odd animals waving goodbye all the way until the island disappeared over the horizon. "I liked that old uncle." Luffy grinned.

"You like everyone," Zoro snorted. He was already in a lying position, propped up against the bulwark and ready for a nap. He turned to look at Draco who seemed a bit uncomfortable. "So, what can you do? You're a wizard too?"

"He's our mystery pet snake!"

"I'm a DRAGON!" Draco shouted right back.

Nami leaned on the bulwark of her own ship that was tied to theirs with ropes. "But it's pretty amazing," she said. "The stuff that you and Harry can do. I would never have dreamed of such stuff being possible! It sounds like some sort of fairytale!"

"Harry! Turn into a dragon!" the captain ordered.

"I can't. The animal represents the wizard's personality, and they are unique for all wizards and witches. All of our kind have the potential, but hardly anyone learns how to transform."

"Then turn into something else!"

"I just told you that I couldn't." Harry sighed.

Draco grinned and drew his wand. "I can help with that!"

The green-eyed wizard glared. "Just try it, ferret boy, and I'll throw your wand into the sea."

"You wouldn't dare!"

"Don't test me!"

Luffy laughed and adjusted his beloved straw-hat. "You two get along so well!"

Everyone stared at the cheerful captain, wondering just where that had come from and if Luffy really was that naïve.

Draco groaned and let his head fall back against the bulwark so that he was staring up at the blue skies. "Who needs enemies with a captain like this?" he grumbled. "I should have stayed back at the island!"

Harry snickered.

**-x-x-x-x-**

There, please tell me what you think.

This will follow canon but also depart from it from now on, so no worries. I get writer's block whenever I try to follow canon word for word, so that's the last thing I will do. New arcs will come, old arcs will be changed, that I can promise.

Even in the manga and the anime the short chapter about Gaimon and his island didn't seem to serve much purpose apart from showing Nami that Luffy wasn't a murdering psychopath of a pirate. Therefore I used it for my own purposes and introduced Draco Malfoy – the Amazing Chinese Fireball hatchling.

**Next chapter: Captain Usopp enters!**

Thanks to:

Falling Right Side-Up, Shinigami-Chan17, avatoa, Ireadtomuch, 917brat, lildevil425, Kanberry, marc, Tariono4ka, Agon Dy, Ophelia deCanards, Simpleinsanity, ellesra, enchanted nightingale, Twylyte, Noctisis Rrhagia, CakesInTheSummer, booksquirt, Hanzo of the Salamander, D3athrav3n92, Thirael, LamboIsAnIdiot, RockCollector, EBIL DUSTBUNNY OF DOOOOM, The BlackSeaReaper, Aero Dream, The CoyoteGirl and SuperiorShortness.


	4. Chapter 4

**Tales From the Grand Line**

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing but the obvious, the rest belongs to Eichiro Oda and JK Rowling.

**Author's Note:** Here it is, the next chapter. Hope you like.

**Rating:** T

Correct version up as soon as beta finishes.

**Chapter Four: Beautiful Liar**

Their two boats weren't enough for four people. There was no room for Draco in the small boat with Harry, Luffy and Zoro – it was already crowded as it was – so he was forced to stay in Nami's stolen vessel. And she didn't like to share so little space with another person. It wasn't very obvious, though, and Nami didn't seem very conscious of it herself. But it was as if she expected Draco to jump her bones and rape her in her sleep. It made Harry wonder exactly why she acted like that, but he didn't mention it. Nami's business was her own. If she wanted to reveal it to them, she would when the time was right.

"We can't go on like this." Draco stated the fifth day they were out. He was lying on his back on the deck of his and Nami's shared boat, hands behind his head and looking up at the blue skies. "We have no room to move, we have no shelter, we have very little food that will hold for long voyages, we have practically no water. We've been incredibly lucky to actually survive this long. If a storm came at us now, we would most likely go down and drown. Well, you would. I can still fly to safety. You are more stupid than I thought if you want to sail _anywhere_ like _this_. You might as well find the closest marine base and give yourself up, it would amount to the same thing."

"It may be true, but there is no need to be so cruel about it." Nami huffed.

Draco sent her a sneer. "What good would it do to sugarcoat my words? The truth is the truth no matter what. People like you need a good kick in the head in order to realize the truth. Sometimes it's the only way to get through to you."

"People like _me_? What's that supposed to mean?" Nami shrieked.

"Numbskulls. Gryffindors. People who don't think before charging head on into things. I can go on with the descriptions. Potter is one too, but he has at least grown some brains. I'm not so sure about you yet, although I will admit that you are better than those two numbskulls." Draco nodded towards Zoro and Luffy.

The two pirates in question didn't seem to be too bothered by Draco's attitude. Luffy was laughing and Zoro was half-asleep with a smirk of amusement playing on his lips.

She turned to Harry. "Can't you use your magic to make him shut up? He's been negative since the day we picked him up! Luffy, throw him overboard!"

Luffy just laughed some more and started munching on one of the apples they had gotten from Gaimon.

Harry sighed. "Malfoy is right, you know, you just admitted it yourself. I don't understand why you keep on arguing the point."

"He's being very rude!"

"I'm being painfully blunt." Draco corrected her.

"It's the same thing!"

"Watch out or you'll burst a capillary."

Nami shrieked and threw her hands up in the air in frustration.

"He is right, though." Zoro spoke up a few minutes later, deciding to give up napping for the moment. "We can't last forever on the food and water we got from Gaimon. We need some proper grog on board."

Luffy nodded in agreement as he finished the apple. "That's right, I still want to eat meat. Fish and fruit day in and day out doesn't cut it when you're a real pirate!"

"We need more than just proper food and alcoholic drinks." Draco almost snarled and sat up. "We need a proper ship for one, and proper equipment to go with the ship, too. According to the maps and the stories I've heard from Gaimon, the Grand Line isn't a walk in the park. Other ships will attack us, marines as well as other pirates, and we need to be prepare- WILL YOU LISTEN TO ME!" he howled at Luffy who was bemoaning the lack of a proper cook and a proper musician.

"No, Luffy, you can't just make everyone your friends." Harry said it just as Luffy was opening his mouth, and the young captain pouted and huffed at having been cut off before he even began.

Nami sighed. "Much as I hate his attitude, Draco is right. We aren't prepared at all, ship- or crew-vise. We need both."

"And a chef. And a musician." Luffy reminded her.

Harry groaned and rubbed the bridge of his nose at the stupidity of his captain, while Zoro laughed at the thought. Luffy's priorities needed to be set straight before Draco went on a rampage and burned down their ship in revenge. It had almost happened once already, the young Malfoy being unable to stand his fellow crew members. Draco thought them all insane. Zoro was all brawns and no brains and slept all the time. Luffy was dumber than a loaf of bread, and Nami was too obsessed with her treasure. The only one Draco could stand even remotely was Harry, and that was only in small doses. On these two small boats tied together as they were, there was no chance of privacy, no chance of taking a break from everyone else, and it was grinding on the Slytherin's last nerves.

"If we head south we'll reach the Gecko Islands. They have some okay-sized towns. We might get lucky and find a better ship there. If nothing else we'll get better provisions." Nami said with a sigh and put away her map. "Ugh, we're so lucky this is the East Blue, the other seas are much more dangerous."

"Wohoo! Time to eat properly again!"

"Don't forget the grog!"

This time it was Draco who gave up. "You're all idiots! I would have had a better chance of survival if I simply flew around in a completely random pattern. I can't believe I came along with you people. It must have been the boredom on Gaimon's island. It messed with my mind."

This could not end well, Harry mused as he looked at Draco. The Slytherin had always been negative and snappy and snarky, but this was getting ridiculous. Why was he acting like this? Harry didn't think it was cabin fever that made Draco act like this, Draco was the only one who could actually get some real exercise in being an animagus. And the blond took frequent flying trips, too, both to scout and to get some time in relative peace and quiet. No, there was something else underlying all this arguing, and if it kept up it would lead to a big confrontation with someone in the crew. Or with the crew united against Draco – though Harry vowed to himself to try to stay on the sidelines and not get involved.

Judging by the look hidden in Luffy's eyes, behind the smile, he knew that a confrontation was coming too.

As did Zoro. The swordsman always kept a sharp eye on things even while pretending to be asleep.

Nami seemed ignorant though, which was a surprise.

'_You really can't judge a book by its cover. Nami is smart, but not about people. Perhaps the reason she butts head with Malfoy so much is because they're both hiding something?'_ Harry mused and let his fingers dip into the waters of the ocean as the wind pushed them along.

Whatever it was, Harry hoped that the growing crew and the forming friendships could survive it.

-x-x-x-x-

"Whoa! There really is an island here!" Luffy grinned as they dragged their two boats further up on the beach to keep them from being taken by the high tide.

Harry whacked the back of the young captain's head. "You need to stop being so surprised when your navigator is right about navigational matters."

"But I've never been able to do that!" Luffy protested.

"I can't say I'm surprised." Draco's remark was as dry as a desert.

Zoro was stretching with a happy groan. "Ah, it's good to be back on dry land again. My muscles were cramping up."

Harry snorted. "You're spending too much time sleeping. Get some exercise in and you'll feel better."

"I would if we had a boat big enough to me about in."

They had landed on one of the three Gecko Islands and, according to Nami's map, there should be a small hamlet here. If they couldn't get a hold of a better ship and provisions here, then they could probably get information about the best place to go in order to get what they needed. A small hamlet was less likely to have heard about the guy who had stormed and beaten two Marine bases, so it was simply safer.

The beach they had landed on wasn't very long or very wide. It was edged by tall cliffs that reached about the height of a normal two-storey house, and there was shrubbery and trees all along the edges. There was a single path further inland and it was cut into the bedrock and sloped gently upwards so it was like a corridor.

"This place would be perfect for an ambush." Draco remarked. "Someone could be hiding in those bushes and picks us off one by one without much trouble. That path inland, too."

"I doubt anyone will attack us." Nami rolled her eyes. "It's just a small hamlet."

"Does that mean that there's meat there?" Luffy perked up even more if that was possible. He was practically drooling at the thought of meat. "Meat, meat, meat, meat!"

Nami grimaced. "You're such a barbarian."

Harry grabbed the captain before Luffy could run off. "Calm down, idiot, otherwise the hamlet people really will think they're being laid siege on by a food-crazy band of pirates."

Draco was still looking up at the cliffs, grey eyes narrowed. "There is someone here." He suddenly remarked.

"How do you know?" Luffy asked.

"I can use my animal senses in human form. I can smell them."

Zoro put his hand on his three katana, and Luffy looked eagerly around for their greeting party. "Where? Where are they? Where?"

"Watch out!" Zoro suddenly shouted.

Harry and Luffy were forced to dance and jump out of the way as small projectiles were aimed at their feet, kicking up the sand around them. Nami squeaked and retreated to the relative safety that the bulks of the boats could provide, and Draco drew his wand with the flick of a wrist. He was scanning the foliage in an attempt to find the attacker.

"What the hell?" Harry grumbled and looked at the ground. The projectiles were small metal balls, but not bullets. They were too big for that. They were also shiny and there had been no sound of a gun being cocked and fired. These things would have hurt if they had hit, but the worst they could have done was leave some nasty bruises. They certainly weren't lethal.

Leaves rustled as flags were raised up on the cliffs, the skull-and-crossbones very familiar though the open mouth reminded Harry of the _Scream_ painting by Edward Munch. All the way up and down along the cliffs the flags went up, but there was something suspicious about the size. They were too small, Harry thought, children sized poles and flags. And where was the threatening shouting of the defenders? If they took care to make so many flags then there should have been threatening shouting to further frighten any attackers.

"You can't be serious." Harry relaxed. "A bad bluff."

"Not impressive. Five people at the most." Draco put his wand away.

Zoro sent them a look, then relaxed too, letting go of his katana and deciding to trust the two wizards.

Someone, however, was impressed. Luffy was waving his arms around like a windmill. "Wow! This is _awesome_! There are so many of them!"

Nami glared at him as she left the safety of the boats. "This is not the time to be impressed!"

"Hahahaha! I am the leader of the great pirate crew that conquered this village! Everyone praises me and addresses me as Captain Usopp!" the speaker was a young man with curly hair, olive green overalls, a yellow, checkered bandana and the longest nose Harry had ever seen on anyone not named Pinocchio. He pointed at himself as he struck an impressive pose, flags waving the background. "If you're thinking of attacking this village, you should just save your strength! Otherwise my 80 million men will crush you like little bugs!"

Luffy fell for it hook, line and sinker. "Incredible!"

"You can't be serious." Harry did a face-palm.

"Oh boy." Zoro sighed.

"Idiot." Nami said.

"Liar." Draco pointed out.

"Gah! He saw right through it!" Usopp exclaimed, clutching his head in horror.

"And you just admitted it." The Slytherin, who prided himself on being sneaky in any way, shape or form, was obviously not impressed.

Usopp was too busy doing some sort of wriggle dance thing in horrified realization that he had just given the game away. "This is bad! They saw through it! Arrgh!" he cried to the skies.

"What? He was lying?" Luffy demanded, getting right up into Draco's face. He seemed utterly shocked.

Draco, obviously, refused to answer such a stupid question.

"Damn you!" Usopp seemed to have put himself together. "80 million may be an exaggeration-"

"The island couldn't host that many people." Harry mumbled to Zoro who snickered.

"-but I have many strong and powerful companions!" the long-nosed teenager finished proudly.

If this was the cue for something to happen, for these many, powerful warriors to jump out and scare them, then they were to be sorely disappointed. No one came out. There wasn't even a sound.

"Powerful companions?" Nami parroted, then smirked and looked up at a certain bush on the cliffs where the sun was revealing yellow hair, a red cap and a skull-and-crossbones decorated t-shirt. "All three of them?"

The kids shrieked in horror at being found out and ran off at once. Usopp called for his 'crew' to come back and not leave him alone.

"You're interesting!" Luffy laughed.

"Hey, you! Don't laugh at me! I'm a man of great pride!" Usopp brought out his green slingshot and aimed another small metal ball at the quintet down on the beach. "Because of my great pride people call me Usopp the Proud!"

"I thought it was Captain Usopp?" Draco sneered quietly.

"As you saw earlier my skill with a slingshot is better than a pistol!"

Luffy wasn't laughing anymore. For a moment he stood there and looked up at Usopp, serious as could be, then he suddenly adopted a surprisingly wicked smirk and pulled his straw hat down to shade his eyes. "Since you mentioned pistols," Luffy said, "bet your life on it. It's not a tool to use for fun and scare people."

Usopp gaped in horror and, probably, fear.

"That came from our stupid captain?" Draco looked at Harry. Harry shushed him, too amused with what was going on while Nami simply sighed and shook her head.

Zoro stepped forwards. "This person who stands before you is a real pirate."

Zoro and Luffy seemed to have a stare down with Usopp, and it was clear to everyone that Usopp was the looser. Finally he couldn't take it anymore and gave in, sinking to the ground and relaxing his grip on his slingshot. "As I thought," Usopp almost whimpered, "a true pirate's speech is so intimidating! Incredible!"

Luffy and Zoro shared a look, then burst out laughing. Nami was giggling soon, and Harry snickered while Draco crossed his arms and reluctantly allowed a smirk to appear on his face. Usopp clearly couldn't handle pressure very well if he simply gave in after a mere stare-down like this. If one went by the ridiculous lies he had just told them, he was too sheltered to actually have met real pirates and didn't really know how to handle himself yet. Or he was just a big old coward who tried to bluff his way through everything.

Things went much better after that. Luffy admitted that his little speech was copied from someone he knew, and it was revealed that he had actually met Usopp's father when he had been a kid. The man sailed with the pirate captain Luffy admired, or something similar, Harry didn't pay much attention to that part. The long and short of it was that they ended up friends with Usopp who guided them to the hamlet and to the restaurant where he ordered a huge meal for them all. The food was certainly excellent and though it was the first time both Harry and Draco tasted grog, they could admit that the watered down rum wasn't too bad.

"Good food." Harry remarked and leaned back. He was full. Unlike Zoro and Luffy he couldn't eat three helpings in one sitting.

"Good grog!" Zoro sighed and gulped down his entire tankard in one go.

"After fish and fruits for five days this seems like heaven." Draco's eyes were half-closed in enjoyment.

"Mhmm!" Nami agreed happily around a mouthful.

Usopp was speaking with Luffy. "So you're looking for a ship big enough to house your crew? Ah, sounds like a cool adventure!"

At this point Nami asked about possibly acquiring a ship in this hamlet, which Usopp denied at once. It was a small place, as the young man pointed out, so they would be better served to simply go somewhere else. Zoro asked about the mansion on the hill they had seen when they entered the village, and the next thing they knew Usopp had remembered something that he 'had to do yesterday' and had made a very speedy retreat after telling them that the food was on his tab and not to worry about paying him back. Harry blinked after Usopp, wondering what the hell had just happened, and he wasn't the only one. Nami looked confused, Zoro slightly curious and Draco almost ready to head after Usopp to figure out what the young man was hiding and if it was dangerous for the crew.

"Aunty!" Luffy called to the proprietor of the restaurant, holding his plate aloft. "I want some more meat!"

"You have impeccable priorities, captain." Harry sighed and shook his head in amusement.

-x-x-x-x-

The three kids that had been on the beach with Usopp showed up not long afterwards, in search for their 'captain' and bravely facing the monsters who had taken him captive. Luffy was grinning in amusement at the small, wooden swords being waved in his direction, Nami giggled, Harry and Draco watched in amusement and Zoro smirked wickedly as he told them that Usopp had been eaten.

"AAAH! A MONSTER!" the three kids, they couldn't be more than nine, shrieked.

"Why did you look at me?" Nami demanded in turn.

Harry laughed along with Zoro and Luffy, while Draco shook his head. "How stupid can you get?"

The kids showed then the way to the mansion. Apparently the girl who lived there had lost her parents a year ago, and had been weak and depressed ever since. Usopp regularly went there to cheer her up by telling tall tales and inventing lies about adventures he had never had.

"What she needs is a good smack and someone to tell her to pull herself together. Life goes on. There is no need to coddle her like that." Draco said as they stood in front of the fence that ran around the admittedly impressive mansion. "She'll never get over it being shut up in this gilded cage with her memories. Of course she's weak if she hasn't been out and about much in the past year."

"Draco! That's horrible!" Nami glared.

"You idiot!" the kids shouted at him, one kicking the Slytherin's shin. "Miss Kaya is really sick and the captain's trying to cheer her up! You're just being mean like that butt-ler!"

Draco sneered but before he could say anything else Luffy had grabbed onto the fence and started walking backwards, stretching his arms and making himself into a human slingshot. "Let's go in and find Usopp and Kaya and ask her for a ship!"

"Wha-?" that was just about all the time the rest of them had to understand what Luffy was doing and grab onto the young captain before they were all flung into the air, over the fence and then started falling back down.

Draco had already changed forms and latched onto the three screaming kids, beating his wings furiously to at least slow their descent enough to keep them from being harmed. Harry grabbed Nami and waved his hand, casting the _Arresto Momentum_ spell to slow their descent until they landed gently on their feet. Luffy and Zoro weren't that lucky and had a quite painful crash-landing, but neither one seemed to suffer much from it. In fact, the ground seemed to suffer more than the rubber man and the swordsman.

"Some things in this world simply defy the natural laws." Harry muttered as Draco settled on his shoulders. The Chinese Fireball Hatchling was staring from the two impact craters to Zoro and Luffy and then back again, eyes ridiculously large in its tiny, draconic face.

"Look who's talking." Nami muttered and edged away from Harry and Draco. She was grateful that she hadn't suffered the same landing as Luffy and Zoro, but experiencing magic on her own body like that was freaky!

Luffy had good aim, though, for they landed right underneath the tree that Usopp was sitting in, and right underneath the window a shocked young woman was leaning out of. She was sickly pale, her blond hair was almost white, and she wore a pale, pale light blue summer dress. Her eyes were dark and big in her face, and all in all it added to the picture of a weak, young woman who needed to be coddled. Draco sneered up at her from Harry's shoulders and refused to talk to her, so he simply stayed as a dragon and turned his head away.

"What's gotten into you?" Harry asked him quietly as Usopp tried to pass the entire group off as people who had come to join his world infamous pirate crew. Draco's reply was to bury his claws viciously into Harry's shoulder through his clothes, and the Gryffindor winced. "Okay, okay, I won't ask but you're really being mean, Malfoy, worse than when we were in school."

Draco snorted a cloud of smoke and looked pointedly away.

"We want you to give us a large ship!" Luffy grinned up at Kaya, blunt as ever.

Nami groaned. "You idiot! That's not how you go about it!"

"We want you to give us a large ship, please." Luffy tried again.

"Wrong!" she whacked the back of Luffy's head.

Things went downhill from there as the aforementioned butt-ler, Klahadore, showed up. A slender man with glasses, dressed in an elegant black uniform with golden embroidery on the chest and with his black hair slicked back, Klahadore was a very elegant man. The elegance went only as far as his outer appearance for his personality was snobby and rather Malfoy-ish as he looked down on Usopp for being a pirate and demanded that they remove themselves from the grounds. The entire debacle ended with a shouting Kaya, Usopp punching Klahadore, and Klahadore getting his wish for them to leave the grounds – only after he had thoroughly insulted Usopp's pirate father and Usopp himself. And, of course, Luffy getting involved in the argument by adopting the 'butt-ler' nickname Usopp and his young friends had come up with.

"Hey, it's none of your business." Zoro whacked their idiot of a captain.

They did follow when Usopp left the grounds, but Usopp soon disappeared from view and only Luffy ran after him. The rest of the crew and two of Usopp's young friends simply stopped by the wayside outside of the village, and leaned back against the wooden fence that encircled one of the many unused pastures.

"He was clearly aiming for to be punched." Draco broke the silence. "I don't know why he wanted Usopp to hit him, but I don't like that sort of attitude."

Harry sent the Malfoy a look, remembering clearly when Draco had been acting all high and mighty and had insulted Harry's parents and family and bloodline the same way Klahadore had insulted Usopp. The war had apparently not only changed Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy but also Draco. Harry also wondered if that experience didn't have something to do with the horrible way Draco was acting around everyone, being unnecessarily blunt and cruel with his remarks.

"But why would he want to do that?" Nami asked.

Draco shrugged. "To make Usopp look bad? How should I know?"

"I wonder where Luffy went." Harry wondered. With Luffy's luck the young captain would end up finding the biggest danger on the island and then bring it all raining down upon them without meaning to. The guy seriously needed to grow some common sense.

"Captain goes to a hill by the sea when he's depressed; perhaps Luffy went there, too." One of the kids said.

"Luffy can take care of himself." Zoro yawned.

Nami looked at the two boys. "Where is your friend? The one who looks like an onion with glasses?"

"Ah, he goes off and then he comes back screaming about something." The two boys sighed.

They were right, too, for a minute later the boy in question came running, screaming about something being horrible and then claiming that he saw a weird man walking backwards.

The man walking backwards showed up about five minutes later.

"What the hell?" Draco blinked and stared at the man.

"He looks like a freaky Michael Jackson knockoff." Harry shuddered. Seriously, the moonwalk, the gloves, the very movements. It all reminded Harry of the King of Pop. And it was freaky. Especially the heart-shaped sunglasses. The knockoff introduced himself as Jango, a travelling hypnotist. He was easily cajoled into giving a show, and a moment later had hypnotized himself and the three young children so all four of them lay on the ground in the middle of the dirt road, snoring their hearts out.

"This is getting ridiculous." Draco rolled his eyes. "I should have stayed on the island or never come along into this stupid world at all. People here are just dumb." He jumped off his seat on the fence and headed towards the trees.

"Where are you going?" Nami called after him.

"Somewhere I can get away from you people."

"Well I never!" the navigator huffed.

Harry bit his lip then stood up and brushed off the seat of his pants. "I'll go with him."

Zoro nodded. "We'll wait here for Luffy to return."

The Gryffindor nodded then hurried after Draco before the Slytherin could disappear into the forest or change into his animagus form and fly away. Harry really wanted to know what had gotten into Draco, and he wasn't going to stop until he had his answers. Draco was starting to get on everyone's nerves, even the easy-going Luffy, and Harry didn't want there to be a big explosion and argument between them all. The youngest Malfoy had never acted quite this bad before and it was almost worrisome.

He caught up with Draco and they walked together away from the water and into the woods. They didn't go far before they reached a big rock where they settled down in the shade, they could still hear the waves vaguely through the trees and the rustling of the leaves in the sea breeze. There were tropical birds chirping and it was a very nice and relaxing place. A place that lent itself well to serious conversations and waiting until Draco was ready to start talking.

It took about two hours before the Slytherin finally gave in.

"You know, Potter, 'captain' doesn't sound very different from 'lord'." Draco said, and in that one sentence revealed everything. Harry didn't know all that the Slytherin had had to go through during the war, but he knew that the Malfoy family had fallen from grace and had been bullied and ordered around, probably put under the _Imperio_ and forced to do horrible things. He knew also that Draco had bore the brunt of it as a way of Voldemort getting some form of petty revenge on Lucius and Narcissa. This fall from grace and bullying was the thing that had finally broken any lasting ties the Malfoys had had towards the Dark Lord and had, in the end, helped Harry and the Light side win the war. After such an experience it was no wonder Draco was rebelling against having Luffy – who was the epitome of Gryffindor stupidity, bravery and jumping-in-without-looking-first – as his leader.

"You know Luffy isn't like that. He's an idiot, but he is good." Harry said.

Draco scoffed. "He can still order us to commit suicide and we'll be considered mutineers if we don't follow orders. Face it, Potter, we're doomed if we do and doomed if we don't."

"Then why did you join the crew if you're so afraid of _Luffy_ of all people turning into the next Dark Lord?" Harry stared hard at Malfoy, but Draco had no reply. In the end Harry nodded. "I think you need focus more on the people than the titles. Voldemort – stop shivering in fear of a stupid name, Malfoy! – was a bigot, a bitter old man who thought himself too good and who wanted revenge because his mother made bad choices. Luffy is the total opposite. Sure, he lacks common sense, he lacks social grace and he lacks any sort of organising skills. But he will never be evil. He will give his all to _protect_ us, his friends, and you know it. So, you just sit here and think hard about it. If you decide that you can't stay in the crew, tell them and stop acting like an arsehole."

They sat another hour in silence. The sun started setting and the sky turned darker, going into orange and red hues, then going a dark purple and finally dark blue with millions of stars twinkling as far as the eye could see. Draco hadn't said a single thing and neither had Harry, but now it was starting to get too late and Harry wanted to get back to the others. He had just gotten to his feet and started brushing off his clothes when a rustle announced someone's arrival.

Zoro looked unusually grave as he gazed at them. "Something's happened," he said. "Luffy wants us to meet him by the beach. Come on."

Draco actually did follow them when they headed back towards the beach.

Harry wondered how Zoro had found them because the man's sense of direction was still utterly useless, and he nearly headed down the wrong path and inland three times before they reached the correct beach. Luffy looked unusually grave where he stood, and Usopp's arm was bandaged. Usopp also looked quite depressed and also determined at the same time, hands clenched in anger. Nami was the one who commented at their arrival.

"You went to get them an hour ago! Don't tell me you just now managed to stumble over them!"

"Shut up, wench!" Zoro snarled.

Harry sighed. Yup, Zoro had walked around without a clue until he had quite accidentally found them. Perhaps he should look into some sort of spell or device for the swordsman? This sort of lack of directional sense couldn't be normal. "So, what's happened?" he asked and looked at the serious faces.

Usopp told the tale about how they had discovered that Klahadore was, in fact, a famous pirate captain by the name of Kuro who was thought dead. How the travelling hypnotist Jango was his second in command, and how the past three years Kuro had done his best to become liked in the hamlet in order to take over Kaya's estate and money. Tomorrow morning come dawn the Black Cat pirates, Kuro's old crew, would attack the hamlet and kill Kaya after she had written a will leaving everything to her loving and caring butler, Klahadore.

"That hypnotist guy also said that Klaha- that Kuro might have had something to do with the death of Kaya's parents." Usopp finished grimly.

The butler did it! Harry was sorely reminded of the old whodunit stories that Aunt Petunia had loved to watch Sunday afternoons. It really was always the butler, wasn't it?

"So now I'm going to defend my village even if they hate me! I want them to have another peaceful day like they're expecting! I love this village too much not to do anything! Don't you dare laugh at me!" Usopp was shaking in his boots. Literally.

"Does it look like we're laughing?" Luffy asked. "We'll help you. We wouldn't risk our lives like this just out of mere sympathy."

"Eh?"

Zoro tapped Usopp's forehead with one of his swords. "We'll help out, idiot."

"The treasure is mine." Nami said. "They'll try to take my treasure from our boats, and they're bound to have more on their ship!"

"They have more people. You'll need our help." Luffy cracked his fingers, eager for a fight.

"Who are you including in this 'we'?"

Everyone turned to look at Draco. The Malfoy was rather pale under the moonlight and his eyes were shifty where he stood, rubbing his arm.

"Draco?" Luffy blinked.

The Slytherin looked at him. "Who are you including into this 'we'? I was certainly never asked if I wanted to risk my life for a measly little village and a girl who needs to let go of the past. I don't know this place, I don't particularly like or dislike this place or its people. Why should I risk my life for these plebeians? Why should any of us? It's not our problem, we can simply sail away right now and be done with it."

"Draco!" Nami was horrified.

"You bastard!" Usopp shouted, jumping to his feet. "So you'd let an entire village be razed to the ground by evil pirates just because you don't want to fight?"

"In case it escaped your notice, long-nose, we _are_ pirates! We should be the ones doing the razing and the pillaging, not the saving and the coddling. I didn't come to this world to stick my nose into other people's business like this, to be involved in every possible fight. This is simply a waste of time, we should have left-"

Usopp punched Draco and sent him sprawling. Usopp was breathing hard, his face a mask of fury and his clenched fists shaking from the emotions he was feeling. "Traitor," he hissed. "Traitor!"

Steel grey eyes narrowing in anger Draco got to his feet and reached for his wand, but Harry stepped between them. "Enough. Draco, I free you from the life-debt you owed me and any other bonds that might have led you to come along on the search for Sirius. You say that Kaya is wallowing in the past and that that's what's making her weak, but you are doing the same thing. You are still under Voldemort's control. Go home."

Draco gave one last glare and stalked off into the darkness, back the way they had come and into the forest.

Sometimes you just couldn't let go of the past no matter what.

"That bastard!" Nami breathed.

Harry turned to her and shook his head. "Don't hate him."

"What?" Usopp seemed ready to proclaim Harry a traitor at the spot.

The green-eyed Gryffindor sighed tiredly. "Right before we came here we were in a war."

The others grew completely silent around him.

"We were on opposite sides." Harry shrugged. "His family was with the man who tried to take over the world, but they fell in disgrace. The man they served made them do horrible things, he made Draco torture people in order to get back at his parents, and Draco couldn't say no because then his mother and father would die. They switched sides right at the last battle when it was obvious that the Dark Lord would fall, finally free of his control. But then the rest of the world started wondering when they would show their true colours and continue the work the Dark Lord started. There wasn't a moment's peace, their family reputation now completely destroyed. After going through that and now that he's free to act without his family being scrutinized, it's no wonder he's rebelling."

"A war…" Nami trailed off in horror. Yes, in this world there were pirates and there were marines and those two factions fought constantly, but a real war? She couldn't imagine it.

"I think," Harry said, "that Draco started to really like it. Sailing wherever and whenever without any bonds, and that's why he lashed out. He wanted to protect himself before he could be ordered to harm someone again. And now Luffy says that he wants us to help fight these pirates with Usopp. It's like a blast from the past."

"But you-" the navigator started.

"I'm not the same. I wasn't forced to torture people, and I was on the 'good' side. I'm used to meddling in others affairs, that was the only way I got information and survived the war."

Usopp looked away; he was clearly not feeling very good with himself right now. Zoro was frowning, and Luffy was stone faced where he stood.

"He won't leave." The young captain suddenly spoke up and the others looked at him. "Draco won't leave. He'll be back, and when he comes back we'll knock down all the walls he has and prove to him that he's our friend no matter what he does. But first we'll take care of the butt-ler and his pirates!"

A sense of fierce, burning determination surrounded them as everyone nodded in agreement and as Usopp started outlining his plan on how to deal with the pirates, Harry couldn't help but smile. Zoro had been right when he had said that Luffy wasn't giving up easily. The young pirate captain had decided that Draco was a part of the crew, and a part of the crew he would stay even if Luffy had to knock a hole in his head to make him realize it.

Harry didn't think Draco knew what was coming to him.

-x-x-x-x-

The fight against the pirates wasn't easy. First of all they had been at the wrong landing beach and then they had gotten separated when they had run to the other possible landing place, with Usopp taking the lead. Harry and Nami had followed, and out of the three of them, Harry was the only one who actually could fight. Nami had her staff, but she wasn't too eager to actually use it. Usopp had his slingshot but he didn't have any deadly projectiles, and he was a coward who kept in the background, shooting his enemies. Harry did his best to keep the murderous horde of pirates from passing him, but they were simply too man and in the end more and more of them got past him and Nami and Usopp were forced into close combat which didn't go too well until Luffy and Zoro finally managed to show up.

Of course, then Luffy had to go and get himself hypnotized and knocked unconscious, and Zoro managed to lose two of his swords to the Meowban brothers while Jango simply kept on hypnotizing the men to give them more strength and speed and stamina. The Meowban brothers worked together in order to fight Zoro and despite not being familiar with a single sword techniques, the swordsman was managing just barely to hinder their claws from cutting him open – until Usopp distracted him in an attempt to help him.

"He took the hit on purpose!" Usopp stared.

"What?" Nami blinked.

"It's obvious why," Harry said from beside them. "If he hadn't then the brothers would have come after you two."

"You would have protected us!" the two insisted.

Harry shook his head. "Nope."

"HAAAAH!" they shrieked in horror at the same time, too.

"I'm going to get Zoro's swords. He can't fight those two cats with one sword." Harry had thought about summoning Zoro's swords, but Jango stood between him and them, and the man was certainly sharp enough to figure out what was going on. He would probably step on the swords to stop them. And with the Meowban brothers to take Zoro's focus the swordsman might not even know that the swords were heading in his direction. Therefore Harry decided to go in and simply take them.

He got ready to apparate. "Zoro! Get some breathing room from those two cats!" he shouted and then apparated with a crack.

Nami and Usopp screamed in surprise at his sudden disappearance and the noise.

Harry appeared right behind the gaping Jango. In a fluid movement he bent down and grabbed the two swords, turned as he came up and threw them as hard as he could towards Zoro. Jango took revenge by slicing Harry's shoulder with his chakram before Harry danced out of his reach. Zoro had seen the swords and though he also took the time to call Harry an idiot before he kicked the Meowban brothers off and away just in time to grab the two swords that came flying, putting the white one's hilt between his teeth. It took him less than a second to slice through the two attacking brothers.

"I will defeat all of you in less than five minutes." Zoro promised darkly. The fight continued with the survivor of the Meowban brothers being hypnotized to even greater lengths, and attacking the swordsman pushing him back and trapping him against the cliff face.

Harry looked around. Zoro was hurt and had his hands full with the hypnotized cat, he would need help. Jango wouldn't let Harry get off any sort of move in that direction at all. Harry was also hurt, and probably not the best candidate to take on a rested and pissed off pirate captain. Kuro the pirate had to be dealt with, and there was no way Nami and Usopp would be able to do that. They needed a heavy hitter to pick up the slack.

For a moment Harry wished that Draco was there to help them.

Then he spotted the telltale red of Luffy's vest sticking out from underneath the fallen stem of the Black Cat pirate ship.

'_It's time that our own captain does some work around here.'_ He ran.

"And what do you think you're doing? Die!" Jango threw one of his chakrams after him.

"Harry!" Nami and Usopp shouted in horror.

Harry whipped around and held out his arm, palm facing the rapidly approaching and very deadly chakram. "_Immobulus_!"

"What the-?" Jango, Nami and Usopp stared, mouths agape.

"What the hell are you waiting for, Jango? Kill the boy!" Kuro shouted from the top of the hill.

Jango threw three chakrams this time, but Harry had reached Luffy by now. Knowing from personal experience exactly how deeply Luffy usually slept and just how much the rubber man's body could take before it started to really hurt him, Harry felt little to no remorse in kicking Luffy's shoulder and shout, "WAKE UP!"

With a _Sonorus_ charm added for greater effect.

"What was that for, Harry? There was no need to shout!" Luffy protested as he jumped up, only to freeze up and stare wide-eyed at the three chakrams floating inches away from his face. Harry sighed gratefully. The _Immobulus_ charm was still working. Usually it worked for a minute or less so he hadn't been certain if it would hold after he had cast the _Sonorus_. But they had been lucky.

"Sorry, it was the only way I could come up with to wake you up." Harry smiled as the chakrams dropped to the ground, their inertia stopped and the magic holding them in place dissipating.

"Your shoulder's bleeding."

He covered the wound with his hand to stem the flow of blood, and winced slightly at the pain. "Ah, it's not too deep or dangerous. I'll be fine. You just beat the crap out of Kuro and we'll be set, yes? We have other things to do, too, you know."

Luffy picked up his straw-hat and put it on. "Yup, yup. Leave the rest to me."

Harry sat down on the fallen stem of the ship and relaxed. Things would be fine now as long as no one did anything stupid, and though Zoro and Luffy were idiots at times, they were also quite serious when it came to fights like this. This battle would be over soon enough.

Of course, Fate had to pick that moment to be a bitch and sent young Miss Kaya running into the fray, begging for it all to stop and causing Usopp to be hurt even more as he protected her.

Harry was seriously starting to agree with Draco's opinion of the girl. It was admirable that she wanted to stop all this, but she was being beyond stupid. And what was it with bad guys feeling the need to explain their evil plans in very exact details the moment they felt like they had won anyway? First Voldemort and now Kuro. Did they teach that in Evil 101 or something?

Luffy broke the stalemate by punching Kuro. "Since you hate being punched that much, I'll give you 100 more for free!"

Usopp's three young friends showed up too, and it was only by ordering them to protect Kaya that Usopp managed to get them out of the way. Jango was sent chasing after them into the jungle, and it was soon followed by falling trees and panicked birds taking to the air. Usopp tried to get to his feet, but he couldn't move an inch, and, in the end, Nami managed to shrug him onto her own back.

"Luffy! We'll go after them!" the young navigator shouted.

"You won't get past me!" Kuro growled.

"Okay! Leave the rest to us!" Luffy's arm stretched as he aimed another punch at Kuro, but this time the man bent backwards to avoid it. Nami took the chance to run past him and into the woods, handling Usopp's weight relatively easily, and was soon gone amongst the trees with Usopp shouting directions.

Luffy's fight with Kuro had started for serious this time around, and the two fighters took it very seriously. Kuro showed off his super-speed skills. Harry found that he could follow the movements with surprising ease, and he assumed that it was his skill as a Seeker that helped him. Luffy didn't seem to have any trouble following the movements either after getting a feel for them, and in the end Kuro was thoroughly trounced with a perfect head-butt.

"Someone like you who would hurt your own crew, who couldn't handle the life of a pirate, you don't deserve to be called a pirate at all. I'll never lose to someone like you."

"Well said, capt'n!" Zoro grinned. His battle with the surviving Meowban brother had been relatively quick and brutal once the swordsman had been sufficiently pissed off. He turned to the surviving Black Cat pirate crew. "Take your captain and this tub of lard and get outta here."

"Y-YES SIR!" the pirates whimpered in fear. Harry even fixed the stem of their ship to make it easier to get rid of them, and they were soon gone.

"I wonder how Nami and Usopp did." Luffy muttered as he sat down against the cliff wall next to Harry and Zoro.

"We'll know soon." Harry pointed towards the trees. "Here they come."

Nami was supporting a weak Kaya and the three small kids were running around their feet and getting the way more often than not. Usopp was being supported by Draco Malfoy of all people. The Slytherin looked a bit beat up and his clothes had suffered, but it was obvious that he had been the winner of whatever battle he had been in.

"He saved us! The dragon-man saved us! He came and stopped the hypnotist-weirdo and breathed fire and had a biiiiig fight with him!" the kids blabbered all over each other. "And then Captain Usopp showed up and finished the hypnotist guy off with one of his flame stars! Usopp's Pirate Crew won and protected Miss Kaya!"

"A change of opinion, Draco?" a smirking Zoro asked the blond.

Draco snorted and dropped Usopp – who cried out in pain – and crossed his arms. "Of course not, they just disturbed my sleep. In my world we have a saying: don't wake the sleeping dragon for you are crunchy and will taste well with ketchup. I was just going by instinct."

Luffy was the first one to start laughing, but the others soon followed.

"I was! Hey, stop laughing! Bloody muggles!"

Harry grinned. Things were looking up indeed.

-x-x-x-x-

Kaya was giving them a ship. And entire ship, big enough for all of them. And provisions.

Kaya's servant Merry had designed the ship and was now explaining the functions to Nami who looked over the moon. Zoro stood a bit to the side and Luffy's eyes were practically sparkling as he jumped all around, eager to get on board but unwilling to do so until the rest of the crew was ready to come, too.

Harry and Draco, now dressed in clothes more apt to a life on the seas, stood together as they stared up at the caravel class ship.

"She's lovely." Harry smiled.

"I can't believe the little girl is giving us an entire ship." Draco said, arms crossed.

"_Going Merry_ is a good name."

"I'm more eager to have the chance to have some privacy. And a kitchen. And a proper bathroom. And proper beds." The Slytherin remarked. He nodded towards the figure head. "Why is it in the shape of a happy, smiling, comical ram? It doesn't look very scary. Why couldn't it be a ferocious wolf? Or perhaps a bear? A dragon? I'll even go for a lion!"

"It was supposed to be Kaya's ship. I don't think she would have gone on many pirating adventures." Harry pointed out with a grin. "Besides, just look at the guy who designed her." Both of them cast a look at Merry, at the fluffy white hair and the little horns that grew out of his head, and sighed. The answer was rather obvious, painfully so.

Draco gazed out at the sea. "You know, Potter, I still hate the way you people seem to always get involved in other peoples troubles."

"We got a ship for free because we helped out." Harry reminded him.

"This time we were lucky, but other times I doubt it will be like that. So why keep doing it? It's more trouble than it's worth, I still see no point in it. But…" Draco smirked. "But I'd like to come along and figure out why you plebeians keep on doing it. Besides, _someone_ has to keep you Gryffindor-ish idiots alive and it might as well be me."

"STOP MEEEEEEE!"

Harry and Draco turned and blinked at the screaming green snowball that came rolling and bouncing down the slope and straight towards them and their new ship. On closer inspection it wasn't a screaming green snowball, but a huge green backpack, filled to the bursting, and the screaming was done by Usopp who was caught in the suspenders. He was very kindly stopped from wrecking the ship by Zoro and Luffy who introduced their feet to Usopp's face. Despite the inertia that Usopp's, uh, descent had had, neither Luffy nor Zoro moved an inch.

"Thanks." Usopp groaned, nose sticking out between Luffy and Zoro's feet.

"You're welcome."

While Nami, Harry, Draco, Zoro and Luffy climbed aboard the _Going Merry_, Usopp took a moment to say goodbye to Kaya. Harry and Draco stood at the railing next to Zoro, watching the couple and rolling their eyes.

"He really wants her to stop him." Draco snorted.

"He should just propose and be done with it." Zoro grumbled.

"Puppy love." Harry grinned and looked at Draco. "Kaya isn't so bad after all, is she?"

The Slytherin sneered. "As I said, all she needed was someone to knock some sense into her. I'm just sad that it took an entire crew of pirates and her own life being in danger to actually do so. She has a thicker skull than Luffy, and I'm worried for the future population of the world if she actually realises her dream to become a doctor. They'll be dropping like flies all over the place."

"Well you certainly haven't changed." Zoro remarked dryly and Harry snickered.

Usopp turned to the ship and smiled. "You guys take care, too! Maybe we'll meet again sometime in the future." He said to them.

Luffy blinked. "Why?"

Usopp was almost insulted. "What do you mean 'why'? You really are slow, aren't you? I'm going to be a pirate just like you, so we might meet on the sea one day."

Zoro pointed to the deck. "What are you talking about? Hurry up and get on board."

"Eh?"

"We're already comrades." Luffy said as if that explained everything.

Usopp stood there and gaped, shocked that he had been invited along into the crew. He stood there for a good minute until Draco couldn't take it anymore. "You people are too slow!" he snarled and leaned out over the railing. "Don't make me come down there and bring you up myself, Usopp, I still owe you a punch!"

That knocked Usopp out of his shock. "I'll be the captain!"

"Like hell! I'm the captain!"

Draco groaned and turned to look at Harry and Zoro. "Is it still too late to go home to the wizarding world?"

"Nami! Set sail! Harry, I want some food!"

"You just ate, Luffy."

"You can call me Captain Usopp!"

"I told you I'm the captain, dammit!"

-x-x-x-x-

There, done. Please tell me what you think.

It wasn't supposed to go like that with Draco, he wasn't supposed to go all angsty and storm off. But I like it better like this. About Kaya. Yes, I actually feel that Draco's opinion of her is right. I don't really like her all that much in the Kuro Arc. And to those that remarked on the strength of various characters: if I made them extremely powerful now it would be boring for they would have no need to grow and progress. Besides, I personally hate SuperPowerfulCharacters ™ without AVeryGoodReason ™ - which most such characters seem to lack.

**Next chapter:** will be up soon…. –ish….. yeah….

Thanks to:

EBIL DUSTBUNNY OF DOOOOM, thy pantaloons, Ireadtomuch, Aero Dream, RockCollector, TheBlackSeaReaper, Kanberry, bettikus, .xX, avatoa, Kuro R. Skellenhive, unknown, lounger, TheMagicPirate, Twylyte, Momma Lici, caring16, daemonkieran, smexyforever, Deadzeppelin, Leo, Luke Dragneel, sakura240, Summertempest, lordamnesia, namikaze natsumi-hime, whitedove and darknightingale, mysticmoon1331, WantLazy, sylmeria, and Linus.


	5. Chapter 5

**Tales From the Grand Line**

**Disclaimer:** I own only the obvious, the rest belongs to JK Rowling and Eichiro Oda.

**Author's Note:** My how time flies! I'm really sorry about the very late reply.

**Rating:** T

**Chapter Five: Where the Wild Roses Grow**

While Usopp came up into the rigging and to the crow's nest in order to keep watch, the shrouds and the beams were actually Draco's and Harry's domain. Years of quidditch and wild broom rides had given them both a good head for heights and excellent balance. Coupled with Draco's animagus form and their magic and very little could actually throw them off or make them lose their footing.

Not that they got the chance to really test any of that. The weather in East Blue was beautifully calm, sunny, warm and simply a dream with just enough wind to keep the _Going Merry _moving. It was the kind of weather people going on cruises hoped to get but rarely got, and they had it all the time, day in and day out.

The _Going Merry_ was perfect for their small crew. It was easy to handle, had two rooms below decks that made it easy to separate boy and girl sleeping quarters. There was more than enough storage space for provisions and powder and extra equipment, and the ship slid easily and quickly through the waves. It couldn't have been better had they planned for it. Nami certainly seemed to enjoy herself steering and navigating, and Luffy's favourite perch was on the ram's head figure head. Zoro was often found on the back deck either training or simply snoozing the lazy day away, and Usopp was usually experimenting with new shots for his slingshot.

"If I didn't know any better I would say that this was getting a bit boring." Harry remarked one lazy day. "But I do know better. This is the calm before the storm. Something will happen, we will have to fight for or run for our lives, Luffy will do something stupid and total chaos will follow."

"Speaking from personal experience, Potter?" Draco couldn't quite pull the innocent smile.

The two of them up in the rigging, stretched out on the beams and using magic to stick there. Their newly-painted sail and pirate flag with the white skull wearing a straw hat flapped in the gentle breeze.

"Yup. It's amazing what kind of trouble Luffy can get into. You'll get to see that for yourself soon. It could be a spit of deserted rock in the middle of nowhere and he would find the dangerous part about it."

"You aren't exactly a saint in that department yourself, or have you forgotten seven years' worth of death defying adventures and battles?" the blond snorted.

Harry smiled. "Now plus my Potter luck with Luffy's, and what do you get?"

Draco was silent for a few moments, and then sighed. "We're totally screwed here, aren't we? You two together are going to bring the world down upon us. We should just throw in the towel right now and spare ourselves the suffering."

"Or we could be the ones to take over this world."

"That's even worse. A world run by Gryffindors. We're all going to die horrible painful heroic deaths and go down in history as, well, heroes."

"Ah, but if you give up now then you'll never figure out why we Gryffindors do what we do, why we get involved in everyone else's business."

"I think I could handle not knowing if I could only stay alive long enough."

Harry chuckled.

"Harry!" Luffy's voice broke the calm, and Harry looked down at their captain. "I'm hungry!"

"No you're not!" Harry called back. "You just think you are, but really, you're not!"

"I'm not?" Luffy looked like one big question mark. "But my stomach says otherwise!"

"It's saying that it's had more than enough food for one day! It doesn't need more! It begs for time to digest everything before you stuff it with more!"

"My stomach is talking?! And you can understand it?! You're such a cool mystery man, Harry!"

Harry sighed and felt like sweat-dropping. Stupid captain. Until they got a proper cook, cooking and the kitchen had become Harry's domain, and the first thing he had done was to ward the kitchen and the fridge and the cupboards against Luffy and anyone else wanting to sneak in a snack or ten. They didn't have that many provisions, and Luffy could eat his own weight ten times over without trouble – and without getting fat.

"I hate him." Draco grumbled. "I always gain weight and have trouble losing it again. Do you know just how much trouble I have staying as fit as I am?"

"You're too vain." Harry grinned.

"Says the guy who's thin as a twig with a rat's nest for hair. Malfoys, however, always look their best."

"And you just proved my point."

So, other than keeping their captain out of the kitchen and the food stores, there was little to occupy their time. Which was good. Harry enjoyed it; the peace interspaced with occasional bursts of adventure was just what he needed. He had time to think and reflect, but it was also never going to get completely boring and monotone.

-x-x-x-x-

"Land ahead!" Usopp called down from the crow's nest. They had been at sea for four days and the difference that a big, sturdy ship made was beyond noticeable. Everyone was more relaxed, less worried – not that there had been much worrying going around anyway – and with proper showers, proper beds and proper food people were generally more happy. So while the spotting of land before would have garnered a great big 'hallelujah' now it was just a minor curiosity.

Zoro lay dozing against the bulwark as Harry walked over and looked at the horizon. He could barely see something blurry and almost fog like right now, but in about an hour it should be fully visible.

Luffy was on his customary seat on the ram head figure head. "Let's go and check it out! Perhaps we can find a musician there!"

"What do you think, Nami? Would it be safe to go there?" Usopp asked as he got down on deck.

"It should be okay," she replied with a grin. "I've been there before. That town doesn't have a marine base so it's safe, and it's bigger than your village so we can get more necessary equipment and provisions for the trip."

Usopp turned to their captain. "Hear that, Luffy? It should be safe enough!"

"Land, land, land, land, land!" Luffy sang.

"I would like to stock up on food and water again." Harry mumbled. Despite his best efforts their food supply had dwindled at a crazy rate. They still had quite a lot, but it was better to stock up rather than risk the possibility of suddenly going hungry in the middle of the ocean.

"And I would like to buy our captain a new brain." Draco said as he came out of the galley. "What's wrong with the idiot? He attacked two marine bases and he thinks that he can simply walk into every town without trouble? If he's going to become the Pirate King then he better start being smart about it."

"So you accept him as your captain then?" Zoro spoke up without opening his eyes.

Draco grimaced. "Hell no. He is like a horrible train wreck that you can't look away from. That's all."

"Sure it is."

"You're so annoying."

"And you're arrogant."

"Alcoholic."

"Ass-"

Harry stepped between them. He was grinning. "Let's behave until we get to the island, children."

An hour later they could see the island more clearly. There were fields of neatly planted trees that stretched off into the distance, roads wound here and there shaded by wild trees and bushes, and white-washed houses practically glowed in the sun. The city centre itself wasn't the biggest, but the city's residential areas stretched out way beyond it into the gently rolling hills. The occasional white-washed farm house lit up like little stars amongst the orchards.

"Orchard Island." Draco read from the sign in the harbour as they docked the ship. "They certainly aren't very creative with names around here, are they? I don't suppose they bothered to name the inn anything but 'the inn'?"

Zoro grinned. "At least it fits."

"Not if there is more than one inn around here."

"With a small town like this I doubt it." Harry said. "Come on, let's go. It was decided that we're going to eat together first and then we'll go our separate ways and go shopping."

It was easy to find the inn. If Luffy's nose hadn't led them there then the fact that it was the only two-storey building in the entire town might have. Or any number of the extremely helpful citizens who didn't seem worried at all to have a pirate ship docked at their port.

"Either they are very used to having pirates around, or they hope that being nice that we'll disappear as soon as possible." Zoro remarked.

"Or they're just stupid. Honestly. Trusting pirates to stick to unwritten rules about behaving- what?" Draco turned to Harry who pointed up at the sign of the inn with a grin.

The sign which very proudly proclaimed the building to be "The Tavern".

"You've got to be kidding." Draco looked torn between sweat-dropping and raging at the obviousness.

"At least it's not 'the inn'." Harry patted the Slytherin's shoulder and entered with Zoro with a grumbling Draco bringing up the rear. The crew sat down at one of the few tables big enough for all of them, and soon there was a veritable feast on the table in front of them.

"It's nice like this," Harry said, "being normal visitors who only stay for a short while."

"Reminds me of Syrup Village." Usopp pointed to himself. "I built that tavern where you ate with my own two hands! Day and night I worked for a hundred years to make it just so for you! The walls were made from the bones of the Wall-i-Topps who live on Wall Island! I travelled through dangers unmentionable for seven years to get there, and I fought their chief and all one thousand warriors to get enough materials!"

"Whoaaaaaa! That's amazing!" Luffy's eyes were practically sparkling. "Tell me more!"

"The fighting went on for thirty days and thirty nights without stop! The Wall-i-Topps are big as mountains and stronger than anything you've ever known, but I fought them with only my pinky finger! First you take out their legs to make them fall over! Since they are so square shaped they can't roll back onto their backs! After that it's easy to tickle them into submission!"

"Woooow! Seriously?!"

Draco groaned and rubbed his forehead. "Those lies are so bad that it's painful to listen to them being uttered."

Nami sighed. "What a pair of idiots."

"For a 107 year old liar he certainly looks good." Harry pushed his empty plate away and leaned back in his seat, taking up the tankard with grog and sipped at it.

Zoro grinned from next to him. "A lie a day keeps the doc away."

"If that's the case then Usopp will easily outlive us all put together." The green-eyed Gryffindor chuckled.

"They fear me still on that island! And they call me the Great Master of All Seas Usopp!" Usopp struck a pose. "So make me the captain!"

"Hell no!"

-x-x-x-x-

Nami left the tavern first claiming that she needed to do some female shopping – whatever that meant – while the rest of them stayed for a good while yet. Usopp had gotten right into the spirit of things, telling tall tales that Luffy and several local children were eagerly listening to. Luffy had eaten another three platters before Harry – and a lack of money – forced him to stop, and Zoro, Harry and Draco were leaning back and keeping an eye on the captain and the sharpshooter until Luffy finally decided that it was about time to get back to the ship.

"The sea's calling!" Luffy declared with a grin, adjusting his hat before turning to the man behind the counter. "Uncle! Thanks for a wonderful meal! I'll be sure to come back again!"

The proprietor grinned and waved them off, happily counting the golden coins they had given him as payment.

"I've still got to get new provisions." Harry said once they stepped outside into the warm air.

"We'll come with you and help carry it." Zoro decided before anyone else could say anything.

Usopp groaned and clutched his stomach. "Ugh, sorry guys, I have a bad back. I can't carry anything heavy today. I should probably just go back to the ship."

Draco pushed him forwards. "If your back is bad then why are you clutching your stomach, idiot?"

"The pain is so horrible that it goes all the way through my body!"

"If that were the truth then you wouldn't be able to move. Now get."

Luffy chuckled and Harry and Zoro grinned as Draco kept shepherding a very reluctant Usopp. Asking a civilian soon had them pointed in the right direction and five minutes later they reached the local marketplace. Booths were placed up and down along the small plaza, with fruits and vegetables and fish and other meats. Some of it was recognisable to Harry and some of it was totally unknown. What the hell was a Panda Shark and a Seaboar anyway?

They got all that they needed and a little bit extra thanks to a good deal, and each of them took one box each. Harry and Draco cast lightweight charms on several of the boxes and they headed downhill back towards the harbour. It was during this trip that they noticed that they were being observed. And followed.

"There are five of them." Draco said. The skin around his eyes was slightly silvery and scaly. It was a partial transformation that allowed him to use the dragon's eyes and senses, and he had picked out their stalkers easily.

"Want to deal with them now?" Zoro asked. One hand was carrying a box over his shoulder, gripping onto ropes wrapped around it, and his other hand was resting seemingly casually on his three swords.

Usopp protested with a claimed case of We-Have-To-Leave-This-Island-NOW-itis, but all that garnered him was a sympathetic pat on the shoulder from Harry. The other three ignored him completely. Luffy walked on for a moment, surprisingly silent, and then he suddenly smiled and was back to his normal, goofy self.

"Nah," he said, "we'll leave it be for now. I don't wanna get thrown out of this town; the food in the tavern is too good!"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Of course it's the food."

"It's the most important thing in the world!" Luffy insisted.

"Whatever you say, captain."

The rest of the walk to the harbour and their ship they spent in easy banter and talk but kept a watch on their stalkers just in case. There was no trouble though and they reached their dock easily enough. The crates and boxes were put on the dock next to the gangplank and they took a short break. Nami showed up five minutes after them, carrying a big bag filled with whatever it was she had gone out to buy.

"What the hell have you bought?" Draco eyed the bag. "You do realise that the ship can't hold much more, right?"

"No worries, we'll throw something – or someone – off board and create more space." Nami grinned in reply.

"Want to try saying that again, thief?" Draco went for his wand and Nami's hand crept towards the pieces of her dismantled staff in response.

Before anything else could happen between them their stalkers finally revealed themselves. A group of about twenty men gathered at the end of the dock where the _Going Merry_ was moored, shutting off the escape route into town. Harry stared at them. They looked like bandits, with bandanas and sashes in the same colour and scimitars hung at their waists. Their leader stepped forwards, a silly turban with a big feather being the only thing that marked him as different from everyone else.

"Sorry about this, friends, we don't mean to interrupt your day," he called out. "We just want to have a friendly-like chat with one of you. That one to be precise."

Harry looked at Nami with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't know who you are. Get lost." Nami called back. Her staff was in her hands and she was gripping it tight.

"Not going to work, ducky! You owe us a lot of lovely gold and silver and jewels, and we would really like to have them back. Nothing personal, darling, but we don't really like being stolen from."

"I don't have anything of yours." Her knuckles were turning white.

"Well then you'll simply have to pay us back in some other manner," the man said, hand landing on his scimitar. "I heard that organs are really sought after in the South Blue. And Loguetown has a nice red light district where you can work it off. Your body's good enough."

"You seem under the impression that we'll simply let you walk off with our navigator." Zoro growled, hand on his swords.

The man snorted. "I'm not afraid of a group of wanna-be pirates. We've watched you all day long, you haven't done anything to convince us that you're real pirates. You seem more like an entertainment troupe. Can you even use those pig pokers there? Now give us the woman or we'll kill all of you and take her anyway."

Draco snorted and glared at Nami. "What the hell did you get us involved in, woman?"

Nami didn't meet his eyes. "I haven't done anything!"

"Draco." Harry nudged the Slytherin. "Leave that for later, yes?"

"Uh, guys, they look ready to attack!" Usopp was backing up, scampering to the edge of the dock and putting the boxes and crates between himself and the approaching bandits.

"Morgana's curses! We don't have the time for this!" Draco growled and turned to glare at the bandits. "….Oh."

The bandits were lying on the ground, unconscious and with lovely bruises forming all over.

Luffy's arm snapped back into place. "That was fun!"

"Not worth the workout." Zoro's sword slid into their scabbards.

Harry whistled and twirled his wand between his fingers before placing it securely in the wrist holster. "You were too slow, so we took care of them."

"I don't think I saw them move." Usopp whimpered.

"What kind of monsters are you three?" Nami clutched her staff for a moment before she managed to force herself to put it away.

The Malfoy blinked. "That was quick. Either you are better than expected or those guys were pathetically weak."

Harry grinned and picked up a box to bring aboard. "That seems to be a recurring thing in this world," he said as he walked past.

"What kind of world is this?" Draco muttered and with a sigh picked up a box of his own.

They were quick about the loading. By Luffy's orders they were to get away as soon as possible before the civilians discovered what had happened and banned them from the town and, consequently, from the tavern and the food for having beaten up the bandits. God forbid that ever happened, Harry snickered and helped the others sail the _Going Merry_ out of the harbour and back onto the sea where Nami soon had them on course.

"So what did those bandits want with you anyway?" Draco asked suddenly.

Nami rolled her eyes. "Honestly, you're as stubborn as a dragon."

"I _am_ a dragon, and this dragon still wants to know."

"I told you that I don't know!"

"And I believe that about as much as I believe Longnose's pathetic lies."

Usopp frowned. "Hey!"

She sighed and walked over to her bag, rummaged around for a moment and then came back with a thick, leather-bound book, a bottle of ink and a simple pen. She handed it over to Draco. "Here. If you can't say something nice then don't say it at all, and if you feel that you really have to make remarks then write them down in this. At least then we won't have to listen to your bad attitude."

Draco stared at the book and then at Nami. "The hell-?"

"And you owe me 50 berri for the book, ten for the ink and two berry for the pen."

"Excuse me?"

"With interest. Rate is about 25% a day."

"What?! You can't be serious!"

"Watch it or I'll raise the rate! I'm being very generous!"

"Generous Merlin's arthritic foot!"

Harry smiled as he watched smoke and small tongues of flame escape Draco's mouth as the Slytherin got more and more agitated, his hands gaining claws that dug into the leather cover of the book and scraping against the ink bottle. Zoro stood next to him, leaning on the bulwark that separated the upper deck and the kitchen from the amidships deck.

"Do you think this book diary or whatever will help Draco curb his tongue?" he asked in amusement.

"Nope." Harry grinned widely. It was probably for the best, too.

After all, he Slytherin was their pet snake.

Dragon.

Whatever.

-x-x-x-x-

That's it for now! Please review!

**DEBob19 and others who complain:** if I took the easy way out there would be no story. Trust me to have a plan(-ish) with what I am writing, okay? :)

**Next chapter**: is somewhere on the horizon. Gotta find it first.

Thanks to:

Tsukune no Inugami, TheChildGrim, daemonkieran, Ireadtomuch, tragicmat1, Kanberry, 917brat, sakura240, Pirate Queen of the 21st century, Sharingan-Youkai, mysticmoon1331, ellesra, Smileadaykeepmeaway, Daicha, Levin, Myra the Dovahkiin, ruby890, Zaidee, Rhirhirhi, avatoa, DanielHimura, story-teller666, smexyforever, IchikoKitsuneKoumori, nwyd, Guest, Hola, Son Luna, The Nemesis of Expectation, Yoshishisha, Jiopaba, zerofiran, Letitallburn, Sakura Ichigo Morihiko, Sevenar, kage kitsune 14, Mecaldar, Trishia and GranIndigo.


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